Copenhagen flashes more color
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 14, 2006
Copenhagen, Denmark — At the overwhelmingly modern Copenhagen International Furniture Fair this month, there was a little more color, a little more warmth and perhaps a little more comfort on display than usual.
The show, which for 40 years has made its mark with innovative yet simple designs sporting useful and clever functions, offered plenty of that too.
Special areas at the Bella Center highlighted youth furniture, new furniture from young designers and prototypes from Japanese furniture designers, the latter a sign of the growing business relationship between Denmark and Japan.
Blond woods and light-colored leather and fabric upholstery were in abundance, as usual, but several exhibitors and the show's co-organizer noted a trend toward new materials, more color and warmer, darker woods and finishes.
"We saw less and less wood and more and more upholstery, steel, leather, plastics and fiberglass," said Keld Korsager, managing director of the Assn. of Danish Furniture Inds., which organized the fair along with the Bella Center.
And where he saw wood, it was often in warmer finishes on American walnut and oak. Pine, a significant material for Danish furniture makers in the 1980s and '90s, is disappearing, and Korsager couldn't be happier. He called it ugly and said, "It smells of something unfinished."
In upholstery, "manufacturers were a little more courageous as far as color is concerned," Korsager said, noting the growing presence of yellows, reds and blues at the show.
High-end producer Stouby, for example, presented contemporary upholstery featuring floral prints on one end of a sofa, and a new sofa from designer Hans Thyge. The latter, called the w.h.a.t. sofa, had a white leather seat and a wavy, thin and flexible back in a blue floral print.
Stouby Managing Director Stig Brogard Andersen said Thyge "always challenges our willingness to be risky."
Color also was on display at first-time exhibitor Edra, a high-end Italian case goods and upholstery producer, whose purple cowhide sofa, show table and chairs drew attention.
"We're very much into white," but vibrant color gets noticed not only at shows but in homes, said Jacob Borch, agent for Edra in Copenhagen.
Edra also offered flash in the form of a large table designed by Brazilian brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana. The acrylic top resembles shards of broken glass, and the base is aluminum. The backs of the accompanying lacquered chairs each featured 900 PVC straws that flexed like a broom.
For some exhibitors, color was mainly a traffic stopper. Near the front of the Eilersen space, a dual-sided purple sofa was "just for fun," said Peter Eilersen, co-owner of the upholstery producer, which has factories in Denmark and China.
The big sales still come from the staid beiges and whites, Eilersen said. The company had particular success here with its new Cube upholstery, a modular group that comes in 20 different fabrics and in configurations ranging from long, two-piece sofas to double chaises. All come with Eilersen's signature removable fabric covers, for dry cleaning, and down-top cushions.
At dining room manufacture Skovby, a new American Walnut table in a darker-than-usual finish got rave reviews. Shown in High Point in April but new to the Copenhagen show, the dining table extends from 73 inches to 104 inches to seat up to 12 people.
Skovby, known for its dining room furniture and patented leaf extension systems, went "beyond the dining room" here as it moved into more living room coffee tables and furniture to house big-screen TVs, said Jorgen Rasmussen, sales director.
Rasmussen said Skovby's business has been growing both domestically and internationally, noting its offerings today have more of an international feel although with Danish undertones, a look growing in popularity in the Unites States.
"You can find a trend toward the more clean, more modern looks," he said. "And we have it in our bones."
First-time exhibitor Krauss & Weinbeer drew applause with its combination of color, comfort and function in the C.L.E.V.E.R. chair, which transforms from chair to chaise, and with its SiLaxx (or sit and relax) dining offering.
SiLaxx combines the comfort of upholstered seating with the function of a dining table, and it was a particular favorite with U.S. buyers here, said Christian Krauss, eighth-generation owner of the 207-year-old German company.
Taking comfort a step farther was another first-time exhibitor — La-Z-Boy, which did well with 11 beefy recliners.
"We had a lot of people come in who just were amazed by the comfort," said Robert Olesen, sales manager here for La-Z-Boy, which is making a new push in Denmark.
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Copenhagen flashes more color
May 19, 2006
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