Founded in 2013 by four Danish designers to put the spotlight on Danish design, 3daysofdesign has since grown into an international festival that draws brands, designers and creative minds to Copenhagen each year. What began as a platform for showcasing new work has evolved into a broader meeting point for the design community, where ideas, materials and craftsmanship take centre stage alongside the latest collections.
From sculptural furniture and expressive lighting to inventive materials and more sustainable approaches to making, this year’s edition offered plenty to discover. Here are seven designs and creative ideas that caught our eye.
British-Canadian designer Philippe Malouin’s Mimi sofa for Hay had an unusual point of departure: the dog bed. Referencing its soft yet plush nature, he has created an everyday couch featuring sculpted contours and gently draped upholstery. Refined yet relaxed, the tailored outline gradually drifts into a skirted base. The sofa is made with longevity in mind, where removable and replaceable covers allow the product to adapt with time. Mimi comes in one- to three-seater variants, as well as a matching ottoman. There are square and rectangular cushions too.
The intriguing asymmetry from this set of tables by Brooklyn-based Ladies & Gentlemen Studio instantly catches the eye. Discrete sections are tethered together by exposed butterfly joints and wooden dowels, complete with legs of different profiles. Dylan Davis and Jean Lee’s debut collection for Ariake, a Japanese furniture brand founded by Legnatec and Hirata Chair, brings to mind cubist shapes or tectonic plates, beautifully embodying the Japanese concept ‘en’, the invisible, spiritual bond between people and places
Drawing inspiration from Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki’s belief that beauty is found in both light and shadow, Teruhiro Yanagihara’s debut lighting collection for &Tradition inhabits that liminal space between the seen and the unseen. Numbra fuses a linear silhouette with lacquered oak panels and tumbled aluminium fixtures for a minimal design that is still quietly expressive. Yanagihara likens the lamps to a vase—an object that exudes splendour even in the absence of flowers.
One work that truly captured this year’s festival theme of creating meaningful objects is Other Matter Leather, a new leather-like material invented by Australian research studio Other Matter. Made entirely from offcuts and end-of-life Other Matter Signage Film—an algae-based bioplastic created by the studio to replace PVC and synthetic films—it is cooked with charcoal to achieve a rich, uniform black finish. Its defining characteristic is a slightly pebbled texture that reminds founder Jessie French of ostrich skin. At 3daysofdesign, the material was applied as upholstery for new editions of Australian-based studio Made by Morgen’s Crafted seating collection.
Danish-Singaporean design duo Christian+Jade was tasked by French global flooring specialist Tarkett to transform linoleum made from renewable natural materials into circular furniture. The result is a sofa, desk set and chair that reimagine the use of these slick sheets without compromising on function: flooring becomes seating while wall covering becomes a desk. Each piece can also be disassembled, allowing the materials to be recycled or returned to production.Stark black linoleum folds over slender steelframes to create soft curves—the simplicity and material honesty of the designs are pure poetry.
Spanish designer Jaime Hayon collaborated with Danish paint and plaster brand St Leo to present a profoundly personal exhibition that honours his late mother, Raquel Benchimol. “Jaime, what are you doing?”was one question she had asked him throughout his life,and that same curiosity and care were expressed in the furniture, objects and mementos displayed. What could have been a melancholic meditation on loss instead turned out to be a celebration of Hayon’s characteristic optimism and imagination—a way of seeing that we now know was shaped by his mother.
