In this episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kajander (Kazander) Melish explains why the Danish dining table, not the chair, epitomises Danish culture and hygge. He contrasts Danish dinner‑party etiquette with that of warmer Southern‑European countries, emphasizing the formal nature of invitations, the expectation of smart dress, and strict punctuality. He describes the elaborate Danish table‑setting ritual: cloth napkins with rings, candles, modest floral centrepieces, and a suite of glasses for water, wine, and aquavit. The conversation then shifts to Royal Copenhagen porcelain, tracing its 1775 origins under Queen Juliane Marie, the cobalt‑blue tradition sourced from Norwegian mines, and its evolution from antique hand‑painted pieces to modern, bolder patterns that are dishwasher‑safe. Melish highlights two savvy business moves: continual pattern updates and a two‑year breakage‑guarantee that encourages everyday use. He shares personal anecdotes about selling the wares to young women and receiving a Royal Copenhagen plate as a house‑warming gift, illustrating its role as a cultural welcome‑gift for newcomers and colleagues. The episode closes with promotions for his social‑media channels, a recent TikTok visit to Koldinghus showcasing the Flora Danica plates, and links to transcripts and speaking‑engagement bookings.
Chapters
Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kajander Melish. Some might say. The most Danish piece of furniture is the chair. The Swan Chair, the Egg Chair, the Wishbone Chair— they're all design classics. You can buy a poster with 100 of the top Danish chairs. And if you go to Design Museum Denmark, there is a hall of chairs you can walk through. The display cases stacked 3 high. Chairs, chairs everywhere. But I think the most Danish piece of furniture is the table. It is where traditional Danish cuisine is enjoyed, and sitting around the table, and sitting and sitting and sitting there for hours after a long meal, is where hygge reigns and people are included, or excluded, as the case may be. I've mentioned in many of my presentations that in warm countries, like in Southern Europe, if you're inviting people over for dinner, it's a casual, open invitation. We're having chicken. Come on over. Oh, I can't. My cousin is here. Well, bring your cousin. Well, but his girlfriend's here too. Bring your cousin's girlfriend. We have lots of chicken. Not in Denmark. We have 8 chairs at our table, and there is room for 8 people. There's no chair for your cousin. A dinner invitation to someone's home is an honor in Denmark, and people often dress better for it than they might dress for work. Ladies put on a pretty ruffled blouse. Men might wear a suit jacket, or at least a shirt with buttons. And everyone arrives precisely on time. There's no such thing as fashionably late in Denmark. For a dinner party like this, the host or hostess will set an elaborate table. There will be cloth napkins and napkin rings, probably some candles, maybe a few carefully chosen flowers as a centerpiece. But not so many that you can't see the person on the other side of the table. And there will be different glasses for different drinks: water glasses, wine glasses, and often tiny little glasses for toasting with aquavit. Setting a beautiful table is a Danish art form. And dinner parties are usually a very good time to bring out the royal Copenhagen dishes. You can't talk about Danish tables without talking about Royal Copenhagen, that blue and white porcelain first produced in 1775. At the time, porcelain was a real marvel. It's hard to believe now. We're all so used to looking at antique shops full of unwanted dishes and kitschy porcelain figurines. But at the time, Porcelain was the stuff of kings. Porcelain was invented in China, and the Europeans tried but were unable to duplicate it until 1710, when inventors in Meissen, Germany figured out a version. By 1775, Denmark had entered the porcelain business, and Queen Juliane Marie started up the Royal Porcelain Factory. It immediately started making blue and white porcelain plates similar to the ones on sale today— white with hand-painted blue flowers. The blue comes from a cobalt mine in Norway, which at the time was part of the Danish kingdom. If you think Royal Copenhagen porcelain is just for tourists and, uh, ladies of a certain age, think again. It is hugely popular among young people. I work part-time in a shop, and I sell a lot of Royal Copenhagen porcelain to women in their 20s. That's because of 2 great business decisions. First of all, Royal Copenhagen, which is now owned by a Finnish company, keeps updating its patterns. The hand-painted dishes you buy now are not the hand-painted dishes Grandma used to have, with their little bitty lacy patterns. Although you can still get those if you want them. But the most popular patterns now are bigger and bolder, but still in the same cobalt blue. And you can put them in the dishwasher. Secondly, in a strategy that should be studied by marketing students, Royal Copenhagen has a breakage guarantee. If one of your dishes breaks within 2 years of purchase, you get a new one for free. This is to encourage people to actually eat off their plates and use their coffee cups for coffee, instead of stashing them in a glass cupboard where people will look at them and occasionally dust them, but never use them. If you're Danish and are welcoming a new colleague to the country, or maybe welcoming the international spouse of a Danish friend, A piece of Royal Copenhagen to start their collection is a nice gift. A team of coworkers did this for my housewarming when I first got here. I still have it. It was a nice gesture, implying that now that I was here in Denmark, I had a plate at the table, if maybe not yet a chair. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. Check us out on TikTok. I've just put up a new video about my visit to Koldinghus, Kolding Castle in Jylland, where they have a fabulous set of plates called Flora Danica used by the royal family. They are made based on the Danish Encyclopedia of Wild Plants. Really pretty. In addition, you can follow us other places on social media. Let me see if I can get this right here. We are on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, Threads, Rumble, YouTube. What am I missing? Substack and of course TikTok. If you'd like to read our transcripts, we are at howtoliveindenmark.com. If you'd like to book me, Kazander Melish, to speak to your group. or organization, go to kxmgroup.dk. See you next time.
