3 Days of Design 2025 Preview

Swedish heritage decorating brand Svenskt Tenn is a name that magically seems to unite colour- and pattern-obsessed maximalists and lovers of more pared-back traditional craftsmanship. It is making its debut at 3 Days of Design this year, creating a microcosm of its wonderful Stockholm showroom with its series of ready-to-move-in roomsets alongside bolts of bold fabric designed by Josef Frank. In Copenhagen, furniture, textiles and table settings will be arranged in a living room, dining room and office within a residential apartment in Christianshavn. Frank’s fabrics will be a particular focus, marking the 140th anniversary of the designer’s birth.

Known for its modular steel kitchens, Vipp has also been steadily developing a side hustle in hospitality, and is now on its 11th guesthouse, all of which showcase the brand’s work in beautiful architectural settings where guests can try them out during an overnight stay. For 3 Days of Design it has invited the Paris- and Marrakech-based Studio KO to come up with a 12th guesthouse (this one for show only), situated in a restored garage in the courtyard of its Copenhagen HQ. Centred around Vipp’s hero V1 kitchen, it will also feature a Vipp x Studio KO ‘Kapsule Kollektion’ of limited-edition products, reimagined through the eyes of the studio’s founders Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier.

The sugar-coated world of glassmaker Helle Mardahl found a new home at the end of 2024 with the opening of her flagship showroom, set within a high-ceilinged historic building in Frederiksstaden. Her installations at 3 Days of Design, with theatrically displayed pastel-hued glassware, are always a draw, and this year she presents Nostalgia, “a curated world of memory, meaning, and transformation.” Expect pieces that nod to the past – with vintage kitsch and the glamour of Miami cited as two points of reference – but with an ambition to become the heirlooms of the future.

London-based design show Material Matters is hitting the road for its first event outside the UK. The venue is the cultural institution Ukraine House in Christianshavn, and a strand of the show will be dedicated to an exploration of how materials are sourced and contemporary design objects manufactured in Ukraine’s war zone. Elsewhere, the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC Europe) sponsors No.1 Common, commissioning designers Daniel Schofield, Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng and Andu Masebo to create hardwood products that will be made by Benchmark. Sculptural glass from Jo Andersson Studios, 3D printed furniture made from plastic waste by The New Raw and mycelium and hemp furniture from Aifunghi bring the boundary-pushing material innovation for which the show is known.

Proof of Concept started life as a show at the London Design Festival, and now it is bringing a second iteration to the Danish capital. The idea remains the same: designers strip down their self-initiated products and show the processes of how they came to be, including drawings and prototypes. Discover the development journeys of products such as SmithMatthias’ Obi lamp and Hugo Passos’ Banco Bench (made by Fritz Hansen). Not all of the objects eventually made it to sale. and the show touches not just on the products but on the many other hurdles designers face, from funding to the need to be picked up by a brand or manufacturer.

Designed by David Thulstrup, fashion label MKDT’s boutique has impeccably Scandi credentials, and incorporates exhibition space where it hosts shows by like-minded brands. At 3 Days of Design Caia Leifsdotter will be taking up residence: known for its kitchens, bathrooms and other joinery, with some unexpected material juxtapositions such as stainless steel and rich timber, at MKDT it will introduce new additions to the Eden glassware collection, alongside other tableware, lighting and cabinetry.

Korean restaurant OURI provides an apt setting for a show called Bread & Butter, which presents a platform for young designers. The 12 designers in question have all been asked to consider perfect pairings related to dining (just like the show’s namesake), and create objects “that complement each other functionally, conceptually and aesthetically”. There’s an intriguing mix of east and west in the choice of names: Copenhagen’s Anna Søgaard’s wooden objects are concerned with maths and repetition, while Hun Lee, based in Korea and the Netherlands, takes a playful approach (think ceramics ‘stitched’ together with chains or furniture made from aluminium stair treads). Pull up a chair and enjoy the feast.