1. The sharpest Christmas decorations

For design-conscious types, who are looking for something beyond the usual Christmas clichés, Denmark is the best place to be to maximize your aesthetic senses and avoid traditional designs. Welcome to a universe of simple color palettes, based on black, gray, white, and pastel colours.
Modern Christmas decorations are such an obvious idea that it is surprising it has taken so long for them to become available. They are sophisticated, sustainable, and available to all budgets, from Hay to Ferm Living. For the ultimate design experience, you can find gifts so beautifully wrapped that you won’t want to open them.

2. Inner light

As the Christmas season approaches and the sun sets at 4:00 p.m., managing light at home is a high priority for us here in Denmark. Unsurprisingly, lighting is a big business, and candles and indirect lamps are found in the corners of every home. Travel to the dark north to experience light and shadow patterns that will make you not want to leave the house.

3. A taste of Nordic Christmas

Danish kitchens are one of world’s best kept secrets. Only recently have Danish people rediscovered and come to appreciate their food traditions. Bakeries, especially, have made a come back at these latitudes. Get ready for a country where making bread and cookies together with your children is the standard for any family. Bring your own julekager as a host gift to any social gathering to show your goodwill.

4. Let your children in front of the TV

Yes, you read that right, television. There are no questions about the quality of Danish TV drama. Series, such as Borgen, The Killing, or The Bridge, are popular around the world thanks to TV management not interfering in the creative process. The same is true for children’s shows. Every December, 25 episodes of quality drama run on national TV, enthralling your children with mystery, magic some Nordic mythology and real-life conflicts. Series, such as Pagten, Tidsrejsen or Absalons Hemmelighed, showcase Danish children’s television at its best.

5. Plastic-free Christmas

Danes are not artificial, and this is apparent in the materials they use in their homes. Wood, leader, paper, and porcelain are basics in both home and Christmas decoration. Danish Christmases and porcelain have always gone hand-in-hand, since the time of Napoleon. Old brands, such as Royal Copenhagen, have rewritten their own histories and are no longer 80s cliches but high-end home accessories. An array of modern designers are bringing new life to the business, such a Anne Black, and adding Scandinavian touches to ceramics. Few countries can boast so many popular toys created by top designers, ready to fill the bottom of your Christmas tree with perfect gifts for younger children, including popular mid-century modern wooden toys.

6. Danish hygge around the table

When it comes to table manners, bring your best humor and conversations to the table, because you will be spending a lot of time there. Bringing people together is a national sport in Denmark, from Christmas dinners (julefrokost) with collegaes and office friends to family games like pakkelege. Nobody wants a boring dinner companion, but you don’t have to be ready with a speech, which is mandatory at other Danish gatherings.

7. Strolling in the frost

Due to climate change, we are still far from delivering a white Christmas in Denmark. However, you can expect some frost, and there is nothing stopping you from enjoying a cycle around a Danish city. For a more leisurely option, enjoy shopping at local stores while strolling through sidewalks and courtyards in a city were even department stores have an interesting edge.

The post 7 reasons why you should be in Denmark for Christmas appeared first on Modernist in DK.

Mad Men allows us to enjoy smarter quotes than what we hear at the office, memorable situations, and a ruthlessly competitive world. Personally, I have experienced similar events in the advertising, fashion, and now digital media businesses.

If this isn’t enough, the show lets you fill your senses with the most outstanding production design and costume design. The show’s creator, Matthew Weiner, production designer Dan Bishop, set decorator Claudette Didul and costume designer Janie Bryant have conceived one of the most immersive and accurate depiction of Mid-Century culture to date, making it a global phenomenon in the fashion and design industries. I saw myself while working in fashion business when the show first launched, and I recalled how everyone converted overnight to this Mid-Century Modern visual universe. Endless conversations at the photo shoot analyzed every single detail in the series, especially Bryant’s work.

What if we decided to find the real locations of our favorite characters? If we could pretend to match the production work of the team, there would be no other alternative than picking the finest architects of mid-century America, those who inspired the show. The settings’ real locations fit the characters’ hard-edged lives.  Let me hear if we have chosen as you expected. Enjoy.

Betty Draper and the Kauffmann house by Richard Neutra

Few residences can compare to the timeless elegance of the Kauffmann house, but it is second to none to Betty Draper. Ambitious and representative, this Palm Springs residence was commissioned by Edgar Kaufmann, the Pittsburgh department store magnate, who ordered houses from the best architects in the world the way you and I order cups of coffee.

Roger Sterling and the Stahl house

Once upon a time, most elegant people threw parties the Sterling way, as he said, because men in his generation “deserved it.” So, this confident, womanizing, and moody guy deserves and lavish backdrop to his escapades and the days after. Designed to impress as you enter the Case Study House #22, this structure gives you the material to reflect about life for this guy, who is unable to be happy for too long, during the afternoons while watching the view with a scotch in hand.

Don Draper and the Miller Residence by Eero Saarinen

It is a great challenge to move Don from the best apartment set in TV history, but a good Finnish architect can help with the task. A conversation pit and gorgeous interiors do the rest. This residence is considered one of Saarinen’s finest.

Peggy Olson and The eames Residence

No creative in this world would mind moving into the Eames home in Palisades, and no woman is afraid of experimenting by mixing plastic chairs with African masks and Japanese origami. All framed in hi-tech steel and glass construction. most creatives today still dream of such a home. Surprisingly, only a few of the most well-off dare to build something similar.

Bertram Cooper and the Case Study House #16

Cooper loves Japan, and so he needed to pick the perfect house in which to go barefoot. There were hundreds of gorgeous homes to pick from, because Japan has been hot ever since, and the best American architects on the west coast looked across the Pacific for inspiration during the mid-century period. The best choice was Craig Ellwood’s Case Study House #16. With its great volume distribution and semi transparent screens, it is one of the finest houses of the 20th century and the closest you could come to Nagano at that time.

Joan Holloway and the Recreation Pavillion at the Mirman House

Dealing with your mother and your son at home is much easier in the right location. The architects Buff, Straub and Hensman stand behind the recreation pavilion for the Mirman residence and proved that having children at home does not mean turning your house into a mini Disneyland and saying goodbye to your former taste.

Credits:

Stalh house by Ryan Ward. Eames House: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times Julius Shulman: Mirman House and Case Study House #21. Mad Men charcters by ACM.

The post Mid-Century Houses for Mad Men appeared first on Modernist in DK.

Believe me, thanks to this title your 21st century had a very different outcome.

Look around you —your sleek smartphone, your wardrobe, your living room decor, the foodies delicatessen in your fridge, or your last travel destination. Wallpaper* was one of the main players promoting obscure trends that are becoming mainstream today you can find Wallpaper* magazine’s influence even in your grandmother’s favorite Sunday newspaper.

It all started one day when Tyler Brûlé secured a loan and launched the astonishingly beautiful Wallpaper* magazine in 1996. This fresh title presented an alternative lifestyle to the grunge culture and marked a new direction in the difficult art of magazine publishing.

The sales figures skyrocketed in the first months of publication and attracted the attention of the publishing industry. In an unprecedented move Time Inc. offered one million pounds for a young title only a few months old and kept all the existing staff in place. Backed by one of the biggest media concerns in the world, Tyler Brûlé made Wallpaper* one of the most influential global magazines in recent decades, moving the grunge generation X (the ungroomed pre-sequel of the hipsters) to places where they had never been.

Today Wallpaper* magazine is a cliché of itself. Brûlé and his staff are long gone and started Monocle Magazine, but their influence in our lives remains. See how:

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Made It Cool to Look Healthy

I bought my first issue a few months after launch. The smiling Ivy League guys definitely stood out at a newsstand crowded with grunge and late 90s heroin looks. Depicting sports and health in a fashion title was a suicidal stunt that represented the worst of the 80s. Today, health is all around asking about half-marathon results is a great icebreaker at social gatherings.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Made You Love Mad Men 10 Years before Mad Men Aired

Back in 1996 the 50s design associated with the worst of western culture. So, promoting the very best of mid-century modern architecture and interior design in a fashion magazine was a wrong staff decision. But against all odds, Wallpaper* succeeded with what no other architectural magazine had ever achieved—making the new generations love 20th century classic architectural masterpieces, sometimes as a mere first class background for high-end fashion shoots. You had never seen so much concrete in a magazine before.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Made Us Desire an iPhone 10 Years Before the iPhone Arrived

Electronic devices in the late 90s were mostly disposable gadgets in plastic or computers in cream plastic or meter tall black Sony hi-fi systems. Wallpaper* contributed to a shift in tastes, promoting the work of designers like Jacob Jensen for Bang and Olufsen and Dieter Rams for Braun, opening our eyes to finish in aluminum and the long-forgotten design quality of home devices. Jonathan Ive and his team at Apple created the products you were longing for during the decade that followed.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Made You Upgrade Your Wardrobe

In a time when a plastic watches set you on the edge of over-accessorizing, promoting Swiss watches and end-fashion to the broad public was a no-go strategy. Wallpaper* taught us to drop the white t-shirts and flannel shirts and love the relaunched Gucci from a new guy called Tom Ford. Hugo Boss, Filippa K, Burberry, and FCUK followed afterward. Generation X experienced a sense of quality they’d never tasted before.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Made Us Love Scandi Once Again

After the heyday of the Scandinavian design in the 50s and 60s the Scandinavian culture lost much of its international appeal. Wallpaper* articles about Wegner, Alto, and Asplund contributed to the renaissance we enjoy today where many admire our balance of craftsmanship, high tech, sustainability, and social equality. New and cool Scandi designers were included on top of the classics. Habitat, IKEA, and the Nordic Noir did the rest.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Designed Many of the Magazines You’re Reading Today

A balanced mix of fashion, travel, food, and architecture have become the ubiquitous standard ingredients of the publishing business today, from high-end magazines to Sunday issues of tabloid newspapers. Back in the 90s the media landscape was dominated by narrow-casted magazines covering mainly one issue. Titles like Wallpaper* or Arena shook the business, breaking the rules and establishing themselves as major actors in the last golden age of the print business before the advent of the digital media.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Taught You to be Truly Global

The usual suspects (Paris, London, Rome, and New York) attracted millions of visitors during decades of cultural monopoly. No one dared to move off the beaten path. So Wallpaper* raised eyebrows when featuring travel guides for Santiago, Manchester, Tel Aviv, and even Baghdad. The guides, with the superior quality of their scouting appreciated even by the locals, have been the standard for the industry ever since and have been imitated endless times since.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Filled Your Fridge with Ecology

The 80s gave us nothing more than broccoli and over-hyped French cuisine. The 90s failed even worse and gave us the popularization of fast food. The landscape was depressing, as Naomi Klein pointed at that time.

Health and sustainability were not directly linked to modern urban living. Despite that it has been around since the 70s, the ecology movement never took off. Wallpaper* contributed to changing that and promoting food sustainability to new consumers, adding an unexpected coolness to local, organic products.

Featuring food was a huge, bold move coming from a fashion magazine. The staff proved to be ahead of their time. Anticipating that food was fast-becoming a key factor in urban lifestyles Wallpaper* challenged our tastes, supporting the emerging new food trends we enjoy today.

Tyler Brûlé & Wallpaper* Illustrated Your Dreams

Never before had a lifestyle magazine offered so much place to illustrators. Wallpaper* shocked many in the business by resurrecting fashion illustration from the grave. The entire media industry copied the concept and a renaissance of modern illustration was born.

Pictures from the few magazines that survived five house movings. Cover picture by Monocle.

The post 9 Ways Tyler Brûlé Has Changed Your Life appeared first on Modernist in DK.

Many wonder if we really need this new wearable. Google Glass has already come and gone and some still expect the same fate for other upcoming technologies, but watch out—a wearable may be on your wrist sooner than you expected.

Google unveiled Google Glass expecting that consumer adoption would be solely driven by the draw of the new technology and failed in this unforgiving world where consumers are motivated by social fashion trends.

Apple learned from Google’s mistakes: The Apple Watch is positioned as a lifestyle product rather than a tech gadget. For the first time in Apple history, an upgrade in price results in an upgrade in design, but not in technology power. Technologically, it is a one-size-fits-all product. In design, Apple aims for the high-fashion market, competing against Louis Vuitton bags.

Apple hired two big names from the fashion industry: Angela Ahrendts (CEO of Burberry) and Paul Deneve (CEO of YSL) to get big spenders to love this watch. Meanwhile, Google is partnering with the folks at TAG Heuer developing a sleek connected watch to be released soon.

It’s true that the Apple Watch has not yet achieved “must have” status. Sales figures from the first versions of the iPhone, iPod, and iPad were somewhat disappointing, too. So, you never know. You may be wearing a smartwatch soon.

The post A Smartwatch May Be on Your Wrist Sooner than You Expected appeared first on Modernist in DK.

#1 – You go real social.
You set a better location for your social network than your smartphone. The venue includes great food, a casual setting, and the people who have stuck with you against all odds. This definitely boosts your “likes.”

#2 – You don’t drive; you walk.
La Croisette is made for walking in style. You avoid looking like a misplaced Red Bull triathlete on the promenade. Real men dare to wear long trousers in the evening, and smart women dress up.

#3 – When you drive, you do it vintage.
PlayStation is not enough for you, so you rent the real thing—adding some classic cars to your driving experience. You smile as you drive along summer roads in a Citroën DS, an American convertible, or a cool Italian red something.

#4 – You sunbathe in art.
Summer art exhibitions provide a great break from pools, beaches, and parks. You know when to put down your sunglasses and find inspiration for you and your family with the best colours of the summer.

#5 – You have a better time reading than following Facebook updates.
You give your time to first class entertainment that is delivered via paperbacks or your favourite e-reader. You are not scared of 50 pages of non-stop quality entertainment enjoyed during a slow, summer afternoon.

#6 – You travel with style.
You show up at check-in (if it still exists at your local airport) in your best look, and you know how to handle overbooking with a smile that beams you instantly to upgraded seats.

#7 – You know how to trim sails.
If sailing is part of your summer plan, it’s a clear sign that things cannot go wrong. Here in Scandinavia, people know that the coast is even more beautiful when viewed from offshore. You know that there are few experiences in nature more magical than being pulled by the wind at sea.

Credits:
1 and 7: Brigitte Bardot and Alain Delon in Saint Tropez photographed by Willy Rizzo.
2 and 3: Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in “To Catch a Thief” by Alfred Hitchcock (1955).
4: Serpentine Pavillion 2015 by Selgas Cano, London.
5: Michelle William in “My week with Marylin” by Simon Curtis (2011).
6: Sabena Lounge in the 50’s, Brussels Airport.

The post 7 Signs You Are Having Amazing Summer Holidays appeared first on Modernist in DK.

Get inspiration from a time when people were as glamorous at home as they are on the red carpet today. In 1958, Life Magazine provided a glimpse inside one of the most stylish American homes at the time, the Beattie residence. This solid piece of good design from the American architect Ulrich Franzen, well known for the mid century Modern aficionado.

If you are just browsing this blog and do not know much about this fascinating period between the 40s and 60s of the last century, please take a look at these somehow over-styled pictures and enjoy.

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