Designer Birgitte Due Madsen, architect Anne Dorthe Vester and curator Henriette Noermark have launched an exhibition of marble, resin and wood furniture designed to explore collaboration.
Kinship, which opened at the Alice Folker gallery in Copenhagen during the 3 Days of Design festival, showcases 18 designs that utilise terrazzo, wood, metal, resin, marble and glass.
The exhibition was informed by existing works by Madsen and Vester, including the Lucid resin chair by Madsen and the Vitrine ash-and-steel wall hanging artworks by Vester, which are also on display in the space.
“As a group of three individuals who thrive in collaborative environments, it was natural for us to come together for this collaboration,” the collective told Dezeen.
“We wanted to explore collaboration while focusing on our individual strengths, existing work, and experiences. Each of us brings different skill sets, backgrounds and practices, which we wanted to showcase in this exhibition,” the trio added.
“The exhibition delves into the exploration of collaboration by placing a spotlight on the individuals involved.”
In the spirit of collaboration, the exhibitors designed three terrazzo and oak chairs together especially for the Kinship exhibition.
These were made using wood supplied by Danish flooring company Dinesen.
Located in the centre of the gallery’s second room, the terrazzo bases of the chairs mimic each other in shape, with the wooden slats placed on different angles of the base.
The terrazzo used was made from glass waste, recycled bricks and concrete to reduce the CO2 emissions generated when creating the material, the gallery said.
“The design process for the terrazzo chairs stemmed from the idea of experimenting with direct collaboration. We used Birgitte and Anne Dorthe’s previous works as a foundation to create a new collective collection,” the trio explained.
“The chairs were designed with a consistent aesthetic and visual language that is reflected in our shared terrazzo furniture,” it added.
“The intertwining of practices creates a cohesive display that showcases direct references to the slats found in Anne Dorthe’s pieces and the semicircular strokes seen in Birgitte’s works.”
Surrounding the chairs, Madsen’s series of circular Neon Cast lights are displayed on her Breton marble cubes. The gypsum and glass lights come in shades of green, blue, pink, red and purple.
Two additional neon lights hang on the walls of the gallery, each designed with a horizontal or vertical stripe of neon running through the similarly designed circular light.
The four Breton cubes, named after sailors’ shirts originally designed to be functional, explore both form and function. The cubes feature uniform horizontal, vertical or diagonal stripes of marble, each with its own veiny pattern in green, pink and brown.
Also at this year’s 3 Days of Design, Christian + Jade partnered with Dinesen to present the Weight of Wood exhibition and Tableau showed sculptural wooden furniture by Vaarnii.
The photography is courtesy of Birgitte Due Madsen.
Kinship is on show from 2 June to 29 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
