46 DEPARTURES CULTURE
46 DEPARTURES CULTURE INTERIOR MOTIVES Established by designers Peter Dupont and Breanna Box (below), Home in Heven has reinterpreted several iconic lamps by Danish heritage marque Louis Poulsen (right), seeyouinheven.com puff pink and jeans in leopard print. With Copenhagen’s fashion week now rising to be one of the most popular in Europe, images of these daring looks are everywhere. Now, the design scene is starting to catch on, too, with a growing group of creatives tapping into bolder and more colourful designs. When Mardahl started creating glass objects (the designer first experimented with the material for an art installation in 2009), she never intended to challenge the typical Scandi aesthetic. “It came more from a natural desire to create my own universe, and it felt so natural just to let the material speak its own beautiful language,” she says. “ I wanted to create designs that make people happy.” And what better way to spark joy than with delightful rounded, glossy glass objects in cherry red and pickled plum that you just want to eat or touch? Which is exactly how Mardahl wants you to feel. Josephine Reich, founder of Jore Copenhagen, is another artist drawn to more joyous colours and playful designs. With a mission to add “colour to classics”, Jore creates ceramics with decorative blue and red lines, whimsical placemats with intricately embroidered palms and lobsters and glassware in rosy tints. “[It’s a] playful take on our Scandinavian heritage,” says Reich. “We want it to be easier to decorate your home just [by] adding a plate or glasses with a colour.” Her business was started in 2020, during the pandemic, exactly when Reich started to see an explosion of colour. It was a moment when “we needed creativity and optimism”. The dire global situation might have been the kickstarter, but it appears this colour-filled craze is here to stay. Even heritage brands are jumping on board. “We need hope,” says Nils Eilersen, the fourth-generation coowner of the furniture brand Eilersen, which was first founded as a coach-building workshop in 1895. “It’s a feeling that the world would need optimism and more colours,” he adds, also referencing Covid and the war in Ukraine as the recent negative impacts on people’s states of mind. “With all their consequences, they’ve brought a certain dullness into people. He thinks that by adding © LOUIS POULSEN
© EILERSEN “We need hope. It’s a feeling that the world would need optimism and more colours” colour we can help rectify that. The brand’s kaleidoscopic collection, which was launched at Copenhagen’s annual 3 Days of Design (the city’s answer to Milan’s Salone del Mobile) in 2023 was a major departure from its usual, more muted designs. Velvet colour-blocked couches are in shades of blue and green with purple cushions and tub chairs are in sunny yellow. Eilersen questioned the bold choices until the very last minute. “Every second day I doubted that it would be a successful change,” he says. “In the end, I think we did well.” Another collection unveiled during 3 Days of Design, was a new colour-fuelled collaboration between lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen (founded in 1874) and Home in Heven, a Brooklyn-based homeware and glassware brand co-founded by a Dane. “It was an honour and so much fun to get to play with something that has such a widespread presence,” says co-founder Peter Dupont, who collaborated on new iterations of pieces designed for Louis Poulsen by Danish designers Poul Henningsen and Vilhelm Lauritzen. In an exhibition during the fair, they unveiled oneof-a-kind artful interpretations on classic pieces such as Poul Henningsen’s brass rose table lamp, which Home in Next-gen pieces by Eilersen, including its colour-blocked Great Ash sofa, Funen armchair and Spider table, eilersen.eu Heven recreated in a rosy pink colour with playful horns. “To get to work on something so familiar was a lot of fun,” says Dupont, who grew up around these timeless pieces. And while steering heritage pieces into a wacky new era may seem unprecedented, Dupont thinks it aligns with Poul Henningsen’s thinking and how he worked. “He was a radical,” says Dupont. “Obviously, this approach looks different in 2023 but it didn’t feel out of place,” he adds. But “[he] went his own way with things”. This resurgence of playfulness, embellishment and bold colours is happening slowly but Aksel thinks it’s here to stay. Or at least he hopes that’s the case. “When you look at the [state] of the planet now, isn’t it time to make some changes?” he asks. “I strongly believe colour is part of that.” Mardahl has also started to see designs that are linked back to Denmark start to evolve into a more colour-filled space. “So many creative talents with Danish roots have managed to create very successful and internationally acknowledged companies that have become known for their wonderful use of colour,” says Mardahl, who thinks the rainbow movement in Copenhagen is only getting started. “A new era of proud Scandinavian design has begun!” 47 DEPARTURES
