3 Days of Design 2024 Preview

Existing brands Menu and By Lassen celebrated their merger into a new brand, Audo, this time last year, with the launch of a showroom, concept store and boutique residence, Audo House, in Nordhavnen. In 2024, it has invited Note Design Studio to refresh the space, with new offerings including an extension to Anderssen & Voll’s Brasilia collection with a new sofa, table and low-backed lounge chair. There will be a guided tour of Audo House on Wednesday morning, plus “good tunes and refreshments” in the courtyard on Wednesday and Friday afternoon.

This year marks a major milestone for the Danish lighting brand as it turns 150 – the story of Louis Poulsen is effectively the story of our relationship with electric lighting. A special collection has been put together to celebrate this anniversary, which sees some of its best-loved pieces reinterpreted in matt white with pale rose inner surfaces and brass details. Hot-foot it to be in with the chance to win one of the ‘Artichoke’ birthday models, of which there are only 300. The showroom will also use 3 Days of Design to ramp up the anticipation for First House of Light, a new book chronicling the brand’s history, published by Phaidon in July: author TF Chan will talk about the project, and Louis Poulsen’s unique history, on Thursday morning.

Group shows are more of a rarity at 3 Days of Design, so this collaborative effort, set in a traditional townhouse and curated by designer Signe Hytte, should offer new perspectives. The international names taking part include Swedish luxury bedmaker Carpe Diem; Portuguese platform Origin Made; August Sandgren, creator of beautiful storage boxes in fabric and leather; and US furniture brand Ladies & Gentlemen Studio. “My vision is to do away with the classic fair stand and tell a story instead, one where every guest can explore multiple layers,” says Hytte.

Finn Juhl will be delving into its illustrious history – celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Chieftan chair – and offering some heartwarming Danish hospitality in its Gothersgade showroom. Wednesday morning sees a live upholstery demonstration of the Chieftan; Stauning Whisky will be in-house to serve cocktails on Wednesday afternoon; US author and architect Carl J. D’Silva will talk about the history and relevance of the Chieftan on Thursday morning (his new book, Lost Danish Treasure, is about the chair); and coffee from April Coffee Roasters will be served on Friday morning.

Pinch is pitching up at fashion boutique Mark Kenly Domino Tan, whose refined silhouettes and high-quality materials should make it a fine match for the British brand’s carefully crafted furniture and lighting. Head to the boutique to be the first to see Pinch’s 20th-anniversary collection, including new pieces in its Garagh seating collection, now expanded to include a chaise (pictured) and an armchair. Mark Kenly Domino Tan’s autumn/winter collection will launch at the same time.

Everything in Kristina Dam’s collection works together as a harmonious whole, whether it’s a fruit bowl, a table or a cushion, and her annual 3 Days of Design show is always a perfect encapsulation of her ‘sculptural minimalism’ aesthetic. This year’s show is titled Journeys, and reflects on Dam’s travels from Copenhagen to the art island of Naoshima in Japan. Discover the new Solitude armchair, its curvaceous tubular backrest split in two like a broken classical column, as well as pleasingly pared-back designs such as Japanese side tables in dark oiled oak, inspired by Edo-era incense boxes.

Fresh from several new launches in Milan, Faye Toogood is teaming up with Frama in Copenhagen with an intervention in the design and lifestyle brand’s store. Collage “explores the intersection of art, design, food and people”: there will be site-specific bespoke furniture (which look like colourful 3D collages of interlocking shapes), hand-painted staff uniforms, and a capsule collection of goods for sale, including a painted gilet and a specially branded gift box of Frama’s hand cream and hand wash.

&Tradition has a “commitment to preserving icons of the past while creating the classics of tomorrow” so expect both old and new for its 3 Days of Design show. British 20th-century designer Robin Day falls under the spotlight with an exhibition dedicated to his life and work (including textiles from his wife Lucienne Day, just as much of a shaper of post-war tastes as her husband). There are also immersive exhibitions focusing on the brand’s longstanding collaborations with Luca Nichetto and Anderssen & Voll; while Studies of a Bench sees &Tradition hand over the creative reins to five international design studios and artist to create a piece of furniture that “challenges conventional ideas of what constitutes the archetypal bench”.