I was offered the fantastic opportunity to go on a joint factory tour to Denmark, hosted by Ege Carpets, Frandsen Project and Kvadrat. The trip was three days allowing each company to showcase how they work and give us a taste on Denmark in their own quirky ways.
The first day was with Ege Carpets. I’d never visited a carpet factory before so it was very intriguing. Inside it was fascinating to see how all the machinery worked like clockwork. My three favourite elements were – watching the yarns spin simultaneously by machinery like a piece of art, the carpet backing being poured on to the carpets like icing a cake and then finally the staff who were reviewing the moving carpet with a dainty paint brush.
After the factory tour we visited a local HEART Museum. We viewed the Da Corte’s installation which was created to provide an experience that activated all senses. Da Cortes did this through using everyday objects with reference to our consumer culture. Da Corte focuses on Andy Warhol’s life in particular Andy’s 50 wigs.
The second day was for Frandsen Project, who specialise in lighting. I’d never used this company before so it was a great opportunity to learn and understand their capabilities. They introduced their tour with a couple of presentations showcasing various projects they’ve worked on. It was fascinating to learn about their background and how they’d created some iconic pieces that were still being produced today. After the tour we were wined and dined with some fantastic Danish food before heading to another nearby museum Aros. Here we were given a sneak peek of the Joana Vasconcelos installation called the Textures of Life. It was full of humour yet deeply serious at the same time. My favourite installation was the chandelier which was about 4m high and was created from thousands of tampons! At the end of the tour we went to the top floor where there was a rainbow panorama viewing station where we could take some creative photographs.
The final day was with Kvadrat. Their office and factory was situated in the most peaceful surroundings you could imagine. An ideal office environment where anyone could be inspired. It looked like something from Tellytubbies, with endless fields of grass, creative mirror ponds, sheep and of course the sea in the horizon. We then watched some project based presentations and learnt how their design team develop their current ranges and the processes they took. We learnt that Kvadrat were very involved in the fashion side of design and not only interiors. Before we set off to our final stop a local museum, we were stuffed with the best spread in the staff canteen where all staff ate each day.
The local glass museum was called Glasmuseet Ebeltoft. We had a quick look around and took some quirky photographs in the multi coloured glass box before enjoying a nice glass of wine by the sea to end our trip.
A big thank you to the personnel from each company that invited me on this Denmark trip. It was a great experience and a joy to meet and share the trip with such a lovely group of people.
