In Denmark, decor that dares to stand out

When Nicholas Manville started working as creative director at Danish silversmith Georg Jensen, he knew Denmark had a less understated decorative history than neutral palettes and minimalist interiors who came to characterize the decor both in the country and in the greater Scandinavian region.

The Vikings who lived in the region used a rainbow of colors: red, blue, yellow, green, pink, purple - when making textiles, shields and sails of ships thousands of years ago. Centuries later, Danish architect Verner Panton made vibrant shades of orange and purple a feature of his furniture and interiors.

Even Arne Jacobsen , the architect and interior designer whose mid-century modern Egg and Swan chairs advanced the minimalist style of decorating, sometimes favoring the maximalist elements of Denmark's past. Mr. Jacobsen made the Egg and Swan chairs in 1958 as part of a project to design the original interiors of the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, where he decorated the rooms with teal bedspreads and curtains with a pattern graphic of semicircles. (As Mr. Manville said, Mr. Jacobsen's vision for the hotel, which is now a Radisson, did not include "a white room.")

But after Mr. Manville, 50, moved to Copenhagen in 2017, he saw little evidence of this bolder decorative tradition. He remembers thinking, "Where did it all go?"

Image A pink chair and a blue chair around a circular table with a red base and a light blue top. On the table are glasses, plates and dishes in colors such as yellow, dark blue and pink.In 2020, Danish porcelain manufacturer Lyngby released their Rhombe pattern, a style created in 1961, in colors such as yellow, blue and pink.Credit...via Lyngby Porcelæn

When he was at Georg Jensen, which was founded in 1904, he launched an initiative to replicate the company's stainless steel Koppel pitcher in cobalt blue, pi...

  Fashion   Jan 11, 2023   0   43  Add to Reading List
In Denmark, decor that dares to stand out

When Nicholas Manville started working as creative director at Danish silversmith Georg Jensen, he knew Denmark had a less understated decorative history than neutral palettes and minimalist interiors who came to characterize the decor both in the country and in the greater Scandinavian region.

The Vikings who lived in the region used a rainbow of colors: red, blue, yellow, green, pink, purple - when making textiles, shields and sails of ships thousands of years ago. Centuries later, Danish architect Verner Panton made vibrant shades of orange and purple a feature of his furniture and interiors.

Even Arne Jacobsen , the architect and interior designer whose mid-century modern Egg and Swan chairs advanced the minimalist style of decorating, sometimes favoring the maximalist elements of Denmark's past. Mr. Jacobsen made the Egg and Swan chairs in 1958 as part of a project to design the original interiors of the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, where he decorated the rooms with teal bedspreads and curtains with a pattern graphic of semicircles. (As Mr. Manville said, Mr. Jacobsen's vision for the hotel, which is now a Radisson, did not include "a white room.")

But after Mr. Manville, 50, moved to Copenhagen in 2017, he saw little evidence of this bolder decorative tradition. He remembers thinking, "Where did it all go?"

Image A pink chair and a blue chair around a circular table with a red base and a light blue top. On the table are glasses, plates and dishes in colors such as yellow, dark blue and pink.In 2020, Danish porcelain manufacturer Lyngby released their Rhombe pattern, a style created in 1961, in colors such as yellow, blue and pink.Credit...via Lyngby Porcelæn

When he was at Georg Jensen, which was founded in 1904, he launched an initiative to replicate the company's stainless steel Koppel pitcher in cobalt blue, pi...

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