&Tradition Opens on Paper Island, Copenhagen (& LWSY got a sneak preview days before the opening) >>>

The Danish design company &Tradition opens its first showroom on Copenhagen’s Paper Island, designed by Norm Architects. The company was founded in 2010 with the founding principle being tradition tied to innovation. Their library of unique furniture and lighting spans from the 1930s to the present day. I was invited to take a sneak peek days before the opening party just a couple of weeks ago.

“This is an opportunity to be able to display the entire collection in one space and know how our products work together in different settings.” Says Martin Kornbek Hansen, &Tradition’s brand director.

Instead of being designed like a traditional showroom, Norm Architects were enlisted to create The Village. A series of abstract houses make the most of this old converted paper factory. Some of the buildings house room sets, one a kitchen and one acts as a looking platform accessed via a set of Dinesen steps.

As the space was a storage warehouse there are very few windows so Norm Architects pierced a series of ceiling lights to flood the buildings below with directional light you can see in the images below.

The 12 houses that make up the series were inspired by the works of Donald Judd and Richard Serra. Every six months the plan is to invite artists and designers and artists to create a new concept for the space. The opening commission was to All The Way To Paris, Copenhagen and Elisa Ossino, Milan, which features the striking Kilim rug designs you’ll notice below.

The building is a vast 1000 square metres, and was historically used to store paper. The walls, ceilings and roof gables have been stripped, with all the cables and pipes confidently exposed. The new concrete and resin floor gleams in the daylight and will act as a durable base layer to the conversion. The only main addition was the mezzanine level, which houses the international team of staff.

Above, The Fly Lounge Series by Space Copenhagen

Above, my favourite new piece added to the collection, Marble Light. The first collaboration between &Tradition and London based STUDIO VIT.

I have always loved Dinesen Flooring. Here you can see their wide plank timber flooring cladding the stairs and walls of this building in the factory. You may recognise this wide plank style of flooring, which is used throughout the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London. Again also another view of Space Copenhagens Fly Lounge Series. Below you can just see one of the Kilim rugs designed by All The Way To Paris (ALWTP). Although the designers have created patterns for fabrics before, this is the first time the graphic design studio has worked with woven textiles.

Manufactured using the ancient Kilim technique, yet Another Rug has an edgy, contemporary feel, with its bold colour palette, its graphic design and playful one-sided fringe.

“It’s really important to us that while Another Rug has an abstract graphic motif, it also uses a very traditional craft technique and high quality materials,” says &tradition founder Martin Kornbek Hansen.“This clash of old and new is what character- ises &tradition’s work.”

The Mezzanine Level below

You can’t help but notice the vast collection of pendants by Brit Samuel Wilkinson towards the back of the space. Blown is Samuel Wilkinson’s first lamp for &Tradition. A mouth-blown pendant lamp with a quilted pattern, it comes in two versions, a translucent variant with a silver lustre, and a sandblasted design.

Seeking inspiration in seeds and berries , particularly raspberries  for this quilted texture on the glass. It should also be noted that it was Wilkinson who designed the twisted Pulmen Hulger lightbulb that so many of us have.

This is an incredible space, if you are in Copenhagen, it’s not somewhere you should miss out on. Plus they have a great street food warehouse next door…

Images ℅ &Tradition & LWSY

&Tradition, Papirøen, Transgravsvej 24,DK–1436 Copenhagen, Denmark