Highlights of 3 Days of Design 2024 | The best of the rest – part 1

I’ve already shared a detailed look at some of my top picks from this year’s 3 Days of Design, and today I’m turning my attention to the other exhibitions that caught my eye. They were a little smaller or more conceptual than the ones I’ve featured so far, so I didn’t take enough photos to turn them into posts of their own, but they were no less interesting for it.

I’m splitting this final round-up into two parts, starting with a selection of exhibitions that showcased innovative and often sculptural contemporary design from Scandinavia and elsewhere. All were beautifully done, with plenty of gorgeous pieces on display. I hope they inspire you as much as they inspired me!

Openhouse x Marset, Expormim & Nanimarquina

As my post on collaborative effort ‘Enter The Salon’ demonstrated, 3 Days of Design isn’t only about Danish companies. This year saw several Spanish brands team up with Openhouse magazine and stylist Henriette Schou to transform gallery Ruby Atelier into the home and studio of an imaginary artist, and the result was utterly beautiful – warm, textural and laid-back, with little details that hinted at a lived-in space.

I’ve always been fascinated by Spanish design, having lived in Barcelona for a while, and so it was a joy to see pieces from brands I know well and others that were completely new to me. Standouts were the tubular and very sculptural ‘Ambrosia’ pendant light from Marset, whose HQ I was lucky enough to visit a few years ago, and the hexagonal ‘Talo’ coffee and side tables from third-generation Valencia furniture maker Expormim. I also loved Expormim’s latest seating series, ‘Cadenza’, which was designed by David López Quincoces and combines sustainable rattan with boxy linen cushions for a look that straddles the traditional and the contemporary. My favourite, though, was the ‘Colorado’ rug collection, created by Inga Sempé for Nanimarquina. Crafted using two ancient techniques, chobi (hand-knotting) and kilim (flat-weave), it features varied surfaces that reminded me of rock strata and comes in four grounding nature-inspired colourways, ‘Ashes’, ‘Clay’, ‘Moss’ and ‘Sand’.

Koyori

Founded by a group of Japanese furniture makers, with input from British designer Jasper Morrison and Swiss designer Sebastian Fehr, Koyori works with international names to create timeless, minimalist pieces that transcend borders and add value to everyday life. It was one of my highlights from 3 Days of Design 2023, when it transformed Ørgreen Studios into a Zen garden complete with rocks and raked gravel. This year, the space was lined with hundreds of Japanese paper lanterns and it was just as beautiful, as was the furniture on display.

Among the new launches were three designs by Danish-Italian duo GamFratesi, my favourite of which was the ‘Kigo’ table series. A tribute to organic shapes and the harmony found in nature, the oak and walnut tables feature contrasting bowls inset into their tops – a striking yet elegant juxtaposition that transforms them into sculptural centrepieces that are as artistic as they are functional. GamFratesi also created a lounge-chair version of the existing and very graceful ‘Miau’ armchair, plus the ‘Uribo’ family of stools, which take inspiration from late Japanese designer Sori Yanagi’s iconic ‘Yanagi’ chair and reinterpret its curved backrest into a seat. London-based Michael Anastassiades, meanwhile, unveiled his first pieces for Koyori – a lounge chair and an ottoman called ‘Makuri’. Available with and without upholstery, they combine angular frames with steam-bent wooden curves, resulting in an expression that’s lightweight yet solid, simple yet inviting.

Kristina Dam Studio

Called ‘Journeys’, Kristina Dam‘s exhibition explored how the art and architecture encountered on past travels through Europe, Japan and elsewhere have shaped her signature style, which she dubs ‘sculptural minimalism’. Alongside existing designs were several new launches, perhaps most notably the ‘Solitude’ lounge chair, which takes its cue from the geometric principles of the Bauhaus movement and features offset armrests that allow for different sitting positions. Also making its debut was the stainless-steel ‘Foldable’ series, which encompasses a console table, a side table and a shelving unit with visible joins and bolts inspired by a bridge in Copenhagen’s Amager Strandpark, and the ‘Column’ bowl, whose shape echoes the Ionic columns of classical buildings in Paris, Italy and Germany.

It was the decorative accessories that appealed to me the most, however – particularly the ‘Bow’ cushions and bedspread (displayed as a wall hanging at the exhibition), which have a striking graphic look thanks to protruding black-edged bands reminiscent of furniture webbing and the grid-like ceiling of the Vorarlberger Landesmuseum in Bregenz. And I loved the ‘Rock’ vase and candleholder, both of which showcase the power of contrast by pairing a brushed-steel cylindrical base with a rugged black-marble top. The idea for them was sparked by visits to the Hiroshi Sugimoto Gallery in Naoshima and the Noguchi Museum in New York, and I found the juxtaposition of smooth with rough, geometric with organic and light with dark to be absolutely stunning.

Louise Roe

Also taking inspiration from art and architecture was Louise Roe, whose gallery was transformed into ‘Niveau’ – an exhibition of Brutalist objects and furniture that made use of recycled elements from previous installations. Composed of rough concrete-like slabs and softened by draped semi-sheer fabric panels, it was a wonderful combination of shapes and textures that again played on tension and contrast.

My eye was instantly drawn to the ‘Spina’ chair and stool family, which is crafted in Portugal and combines circular seats with chunky three-legged bases. The central leg on each is notably wider, lending the series an air of strength and stability reflected by its name, which is Latin for ‘spine’. The designs come in natural, smoked and black-stained oak, and I particularly liked the versions sporting striped seat pads from Gabriel Fabrics. The wooden pieces were offset by lots of smooth polished metal, which appeared in the timeless ‘S.R.’ tableware range, the roof-like ‘Loft’ lamp and the ‘Pipe’ chandelier – a sculptural composition of tubes with lights at both ends. There were also plenty of beautiful ceramics on display, my favourite being the ‘Vinci’ vase, whose spherical form is accented by raised belt-like bands and which took centre stage on a plinth at the heart of the exhibition.

Normann Copenhagen

Last but by no means least, Normann Copenhagen marked its 25th anniversary with an exhibition called ‘Elements of Normann’. A celebration of the brand’s core values and signature style, it was spread over two floors of its Brutalist HQ and explored themes such as material innovation, staging and togetherness. One section, for example, was dedicated to the sustainable seaweed and hemp used to make designs such as the ‘Mat’ chair, with the opportunity to touch and feel the raw ingredients; another had a display of the recycled-plastic ‘Bit’ stools, arranged like a building. There was also areas exploring the versatility of wood and metallics – long mainstays of Normann Copenhagen’s collections – plus an installation that turned the concept of colour-drenching on its head by bathing an entirely white space in different-coloured lights for an ever-changing tone-on-tone effect.

There were of course several new products on show. Standouts for me were the origami-like ‘Fold’ chair, the idea for which arose when designer Ole Petter Wullum experimented with folding a sheet of paper into pieces of furniture, and the ‘Chubb’ wooden bowls, created by Sami Kallio as a tribute to the chunky homeware of the 1970s. I also loved the look of Aspekt Office’s ‘Let’ stool, which was inspired by the parallel wooden planks used to make traditional beer crates. It’s formed from two lengths of wood that are slightly tilted and look as if they’re merely resting against each other at the top, setting up a delicate yet sturdy expression.

Stay tuned for my final post from 3 Days of Design 2024, coming later this week!

All photography by Abi Dare