Copenhagen's design week "needs more independent actors" says Other Circle director
As 3 Days of Design kicks off, a separate exhibition in Copenhagen is combining design with music, art, fashion and food. In an exclusive interview, Other Circle director Svend Jacob Pedersen explains the decision to run the event independently. Other Circle is a showcase of over 50 exhibitors, including furniture brands BD Barcelona and Meritalia, The post Copenhagen's design week "needs more independent actors" says Other Circle director appeared first on Dezeen.
As 3 Days of Design kicks off, a separate exhibition in Copenhagen is combining design with music, art, fashion and food. In an exclusive interview, Other Circle director Svend Jacob Pedersen explains the decision to run the event independently.
Other Circle is a showcase of over 50 exhibitors, including furniture brands BD Barcelona and Meritalia, clothing labels Samsøe Samsøe and ASICS, galleries Adorno and Galerie MLS, music and tech company Teenage Engineering, artists Rop van Mierlo and Oliver Sundqvist, and test kitchen Noma Projects.
Taking place at The Lab in Østerbro, outside the city centre, Other Circle is the first major design exhibition to open concurrently with 3 Days of Design, but operate independently.
"We believe that there's an audience for the design week in Copenhagen to grow beyond the size it's at right now," Pedersen told Dezeen.
"We have so much respect for what 3 Days of Design has built; it created an audience for design in Copenhagen," he said. "But I believe it's at a point where it's too big for one organisation to take full responsibility for curation."
"To maintain the same level of quality, I think it needs more independent actors," he continued.
Pedersen sees Other Circle as a more multidisciplinary offering than the 3 Days of Design programme, encouraging collaboration between different creative fields.
"To evolve in any discipline, whether it's design or music, you have to have a dialogue with other people," he said.
"You have to look further than just one discipline if you want to capture an energy and a moment in creative culture."
Pedersen is one of the three directors of Spacon, formerly Spacon & X, the Copenhagen-based architecture and design studio named Emerging Interior Designer of the Year at the inaugural Dezeen Awards in 2018.
He developed the initial concept for Other Circle with Silas Adler, founder and former creative director of Danish fashion label Soulland, and Kristian Nyholm, co-founder of PR agency e45.
They felt the rapid growth of 3 Days of Design had made it harder for smaller studios and brands to make an impression. Looking to the model of Milan exhibition platforms Alcova and Capsule Plaza, they felt a group show was the answer.
"It's hard to attract attention when you have Hay and Kvadrat around the corner," Pedersen said.
"But if you can go to one place and see a lot of exhibitors together, the smaller exhibitors can compete."
After assembling a team, they developed a programme that centres around creative collaboration.
One of the highlights is a partnership between LA-based design studio PlayLab and Designmuseum Denmark, reinterpreting design classics from the museum's collection.
They paired artist Charlie Roberts with Bolia, resulting in a wooden sculpture based on one of the Scandinavian furniture brand's bestselling sofas, while Spacon worked with interiors brand Pedestal on a lunar-themed installation to mark the launch of its Moon Rollin television stand.
There will be plenty of culinary experimentation, with cafe Atelier September and bakery Hart joining Noma Projects on the lineup, while scent brand 19-69 is showing archive photography of skaters and surfers on Venice Beach in the 1970s.
Other additions include a pop-up library assembled by curator Andreas Murkudis and Space Magazine, and a puzzle-like installation from interiors magazine Apartamento and Danish artist Tal R.
Pedersen doesn't rule out a collaboration with 3 Days of Design in the future, but he has enjoyed the freedom of operating independently. He said it allowed them to push boundaries, including voices and brands from beyond the design industry.
He hopes Other Circle will show visitors the hybrid nature of contemporary culture and reveal a more experimental side of Danish design.
"As a design nation, we still focus a lot on the heritage from the mid-century," he said.
"We want to show a new direction. By looking outside our discipline, maybe we can create a way to bridge the best part of our heritage with the next generation."
He points to exhibitors Niko June and NM3 as examples of brands exploring new approaches, more in line with the fashion industry than traditional design companies.
Pedersen said the long-term ambition is for Other Circle to expand. It is set to return next year and may also get involved in Copenhagen Fashion Week. It could also travel to other cities.
"Design has always been more than objects. Other Circle is about what happens around them," he said.
"The ideas, influences, and exchanges that shape culture are on display here. Bringing together different disciplines is about showing how these worlds inform each other, allowing them to become a part of something bigger."
Other Circle is on show at The Lab in Copenhagen from 18 to 20 June. See Dezeen Events Guide for more events taking place in the Danish capital and elsewhere around the world.
The post Copenhagen's design week "needs more independent actors" says Other Circle director appeared first on Dezeen.
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