Dave & Friends Variety Hour

As our trip nears its end and the tourist activities and frenetic photo-taking wind down, I thought I’d move from pure travelogue to more analysis of what we see around us. When I travel, I’m usually interested in four things: architecture and design, food, drink, and people. So, part one of a four part series.
It will surprise no one that I have something to say about Danish design. After all, Scandinavian design is synonymous with contemporary and stylish in the US, from IKEA on up to the boutiques on Newbury Street. As a kid, I loved going into Contemporary Trends in Ithaca to admire the simple elegance of their Scandivanian products.

A few things have caught me pleasantly by surprise though. The first is that Danish design has been unique and, in many ways, contemporary for centuries. I’d developed a concept of European architecture based heavily on Greco-Roman influence. My visits to France, Switzerland, Spain, and London largely bore this out (though between Gaudi and Moorish influence Spain represents a bit of a departure). But Denmark is different. Whether it’s distance from Rome or something cultural I don’t know, but everthing around me is at least a little different. For example, the Børsen (stock exchange, 1620s), Vor Frelsers Kirke (1750ish), and castles like Kronborg Slot (1700s) are striking in their differences from what I’m used to, even as they draw on more traditional influences (click to see larger images):

Going back further (12th century-ish) are Bornholm’s fortified round churches:

The architecture uses unusual shapes: spirals, bold vertical rectangles in church facades, intricate fairy-tale effects on castles, and in more modern buildings, interesting angles and colors. And everywhere there are these delightful, orange, tile-roofed buildings, a constant element of the old amidst the new:

Then there’s Christiania, arguably a topic unto itself…

Modern Danish design also held some surprises for me. Have a look at the chairs at the Danish Design Center:

These span about 60 years of design. Can you accurately guess which are from the 1950s and which are from last year? I couldn’t. There’s a timelessness, a persistent relevance and modernity, to a lot of Danish design that I’ve often found to be lacking when I go into a contemporary furniture store. I think, in part, it has to do with the fact that modern design isn’t new here; in a sense they’ve been doing it all along.

That also means they’re not afraid to retain elements of the old. For example, Royal Copenhagen’s recent Blue Fluted Mega porcelain pattern is based almost wholly on their traditional Blue Fluted pattern but recasts it in a more modern light (Blue Fluted on the left, Mega on the right):

It seems the Danes have a long history of doing their own thing, building on existing styles but striking out in new directions. The result is surprising and often delightful…and in a capital city nearly free from skyscrapers. I have way more architecture photos than I could possibly put in one post, but you can see them in the photo album.