In this solo episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish recounts her brief 1984 visit to Copenhagen, where a futuristic toilet sparked her first encounter with Danish design. She traces the evolution of Danish design from the heavy, dark, post‑World‑War II style—characterized by dark woods, ornate plates, and figurines—to the sleek, minimalist aesthetic that emerged in the 1950s and 60s, exemplified by icons such as Arne Jacobsen chairs (the Ant, Egg, Swan), the PH lamp, Rosendahl water jug, George Jensen fruit bowl, and Kai Boisen wooden monkey. Mellish notes that while Danes are indifferent to designer labels in fashion, they prize classic design pieces in the home, using them as status symbols. She warns that these valuable items attract criminal gangs, citing a real incident where thieves stole six Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs from Carlsberg’s headquarters. The episode closes with calls to visit the podcast website, follow her Facebook page, a sponsor plug for perfectenglish.dk, and promotion of her book available on Amazon.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. I moved to Denmark in 2000. But I was actually here for the first time in 1984, very briefly, for less than a day. It was my Eurail pass days, and I arrived in the morning from Amsterdam and then took the night boat to Norway. My first time in Copenhagen was not a good experience. Copenhagen was very different in those days, less open, less social, less light. There were no cafes. I had a lot of trouble finding something to eat. I walked and walked and ended up in the coffee shop of the Radisson Hotel, a big '70s concrete block. Anyway, I took only one picture during that day, and it was of a toilet at the hotel. It was the most beautifully designed toilet I had ever seen, all round streamlined corners. It looked like a cross between an egg and a spaceship. I was really impressed, and I took a picture. I didn't know it then, but I'd just seen my first local example of Danish design. Danish design is world famous, and it should be. Danes are really passionate about design, and they really believe in making everything that is useful also beautiful— even a toilet. After living here a while, you just come to expect it. Then you travel someplace else and something is unnecessarily ugly, and you think, why? What we think of now as Danish design— light, curvy, with a sense of humor— it's actually only about 50 or 60 years old, really from right after the Second World War. Before that, Danish design was very heavy, dark, almost German. Lots of dark wood, rosewood, sometimes carved with little figures of cows or farmers, are always taking up a lot of room. When you visit your Danish friends, you may notice giant pieces of furniture like this from their grandparents, taking up a lot of space in their small urban apartments. Other types of grandparent Danish design are those hand-painted blue and white plates. They're too fancy to be used for eating, so they're usually just hung up on the wall. Grandparents also like teeny-weeny fancy glasses, crystal glasses, for drinking shots of alcoholic snaps, sometimes for breakfast. And they also like porcelain hand-painted figurines of pretty dancing girls or puppies or rosy-cheeked shepherds. If you like that stuff, antique shops in Denmark have a whole lot of it to sell you. But anyway, that's old Danish design. New Danish design is minimalist, white, empty. And there are a few standard elements that show Danish society you have a well-designed home. An Arne Jacobsen chair, for example. The ant, or the egg, or the swan. A PH lamp, which looks kind of like a metal upside-down wedding cake. A Rosendahl water jug, a silver George Jensen fruit bowl, a Kai Boisen wooden monkey. It's almost like a deck of cards. I've got 2 swans, an egg, and a monkey. It's a full house. It's kind of ironic because Danes don't care all that much about designer names when it comes to clothes or handbags. I can't remember the last time I saw a Louis Vuitton bag being being carried in Copenhagen. But when it comes to home design, it's all about the brand-name classics. Anyway, give a Dane a choice of fixing up his wardrobe or fixing up his kitchen, and he'll pick the kitchen every time. That said, it can be dangerous to have these expensive design items in your home. Criminal gangs go through the real estate ads to see which houses for sale have expensive designer furniture. And then they break in. As a matter of fact, when I worked at Carlsberg, somebody broke into the headquarters over the weekend— and this is a Fortune 500 company— and stole nothing but 6 Arne Jacobsen swan chairs sitting in the lobby. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. Check out our website at www.howtoliveindenmark.com to leave a comment on this podcast, or go to our Xander Mellish Facebook page. Let us know what you think. This week's podcast is sponsored by perfectenglish.dk. If you're looking for a native English copywriter in Denmark, type in perfectenglish.dk and take it from there. Music arranged by George Garvis. See you next week. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
