Designscout.dk

April 2009

Georg Jensen Takes Danish Design to the Next Level

Scandinavian luxury lifestyle brand Georg Jensen has appointed designer Todd Bracher Creative Director of the brand and head of a new creative force consisting of the Georg Jensen internal design team, the Georg Jensen designer network and Copenhagen based design consultants OeO. 

April 30, 2009 – Today Georg Jensen announced that Todd Bracher will take the reins at Georg Jensen as Creative Director, responsible for the full range of Georg Jensen products from jewellery and watches to flatware and hollowware. Todd Bracher will take up his new position on May 1st.  Together with Georg Jensen’s in-house product development team and Georg Jensen’s unique designer network, Bracher and OeO will energize and align the future design and brand vision. 

As part of the new strategy Todd Bracher will be working together with his long-time partner Thomas Lykke and Anne-Marie Buemann from OeO, a Danish based, and strategy-driven design company with vast experience from the design industry. The new set-up allows Georg Jensen to unite the best of today’s Danish and international design competencies with a strong strategic and commercial approach to new product introductions.  

“I am thrilled and honoured to be joining Georg Jensen. To be part of this brand and to help sculpt its vision has been a long-term dream for me. Georg Jensen has a specific language and intelligence, it communicates on so many levels.  The possibilities are endless and we intend to explore them”, Todd Bracher says. 

The appointment of Todd Bracher is part of the strategy that CEO Ulrik Garde Due introduced when he joined the company from British top fashion label Burberry last year. A strategy, which is turning the traditional Danish Silversmith into a Scandinavian luxury lifestyle brand with an integrated product range. 

“Todd Bracher was an obvious choice for the position as Creative Director. He is perfectly aware of the brand’s many qualities and appreciates the craftsmanship and the unique sense of style. Yet, he has a young and fresh approach to continue the creative developments. I am convinced he will be able to take Georg Jensen to the next level”, Ulrik Garde Due says. 

Since 1904 Georg Jensen has succeeded in attracting and working with some of the most talented designers around the globe. One of these talented designers is Todd Bracher who has designed for Georg Jensen since 2004 and will now be in charge of identifying and supporting the next generation of design stars, joining such legendary artists as Georg Jensen, Arne Jacobsen and Henning Koppel. 

When, back in 1999, Todd moved to Denmark to study in Copenhagen at the Danish Design School he soon became fascinated by the Danish design tradition and shortly after launched his own beautiful sculptural furniture and home accessories for Danish and international companies such as Fritz Hansen and Zanotta. 

“The works of Georg Jensen himself, Henning Koppel and Arne Jacobsen have shaped who I am as a designer and are the very reason why I eventually moved to Denmark to look ‘behind the scenes’ at the source of these works. I discovered that the forms of the Georg Jensen collection capture the generosity and elegance that is built into the Danes and their way of life”, says Todd, who, at Georg Jensen, will be defining the brand’s future design philosophy.  

“Design is much more than creating forms and shapes. It is about the heart and mind that has produced it. For us to maintain brand coherence we must define what the heart must feel and the mind think and the rest will follow”, Todd Bracher says. 

Critics might argue that asking a foreigner to take the Georg Jensen design language into the future is not the obvious thing to do. That it would take a native Dane to understand the true essence of Georg Jensen – the tradition, the story and the role the Silversmithy has played in creating the term Danish Design. 

“The heritage is huge and the responsibility is vast. Part of Todd’s training was here in Copenhagen, which mixed with his international experience allows us to get an external point of view of Danish design with an internal understanding. For me it is bringing in the right person who in his soul understands where Georg Jensen is coming from and who has the skills, the courage and the ability to bring Georg Jensen and Danish design into the next century. To me Todd Bracher is that person,” Ulrik Garde Due states. 

Ulrik Garde Due, CEO  Todd Bracher, Creative Director

Everyone is becoming more environmentally conscious and we all know the problem of buying groceries and packing them into too many plastic bags each week. Not one, but two of course in order to secure they do not rupture and due to a lack of a working, innovative alternative.

Read the rest of this entry »

It started as a source of irritation in the bathroom. It has since required three years’ work, two German engineers and USD 1 million in development costs. Friday the children’s bath tub “The Flexi Bath” won the Formland Design Award – Spring 2009.

The flexible bath tub, The Flexi Bath, is the result of a source of irritation in the bathroom. Friday, Stinne Fruelund, owner of Play for Life ApS, and Designer Niels Peter Estrup, A Real Cool World, won the Formland Design Award for the product.

Read the rest of this entry »

It is now possible to buy rare and unique art pieces made by some of the most highly respected artists in Denmark in collaboration with Royal Copenhagen. The collection can be seen and bought on

Many renowned artists have collaborated with Royal Copenhagen over the years, building up a fascinating collection of unique art pieces along the way. Nine pieces are offered for sale, made by Carl-Henning Pedersen, Jens Birkemose and Ivan Weiss, at prices from DKK 1,000 to DKK 60,000 for a lovely slip-decorated vase by Carl Henning Pedersen. From Ivan Weiss’s hand there are two hand-thrown bowls with ox-blood glaze fired in a coal-fuelled kiln, and a barium-glazed bowl that highlights the fine blue colour. Jens Birkemose’s work is known for the characteristic “dripping” glaze and the colour transitions, which are clearly shown on the two bowls and the large vase. The colourful decorations on the pieces by the CoBrA painter, Carl-Henning Pedersen, reflect his imaginative approach to his art. Carl-Henning Pedersen’s pieces are all slip–decorated ceramics.

More works by exciting artists will be added regularly to the selection.

Closeness to nature, health, environmental sustainability and bicycling are all integral parts of the Scandinavian lifestyle. As part of the Global premiere of the new Scandinavian Luxury Lifestyle store concept Georg Jensen is launching WHEELS – a unique Danish designed and produced bicycle. Yet another quality, long lasting investment opportunity from Georg Jensen – in a world were financial values decline by the tick of the clock .

“The best part of Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia is our lifestyle and the clean environment. The relaxed atmosphere where people are enjoying the closeness to nature and get together with friends and family at home. Our wonderful clean environment which provides clean drinking water directly from the ground and which makes it possible to swim in perfectly clean water even in the harbour in the very midst of Copenhagen. And then there are off course the bikes”, Ulrik Garde Due, CEO of Georg Jensen, states.

Denmark is after the Netherlands, the country in the world with the highest number of people bicycling. All over the country the road net is making is easy to be on two wheels and the official government includes bicycling as part of the national transport policy. In other words bicycling is an integral part of everyday lives in Denmark. In most big cities tourist can borrow city-bikes for free while they are visiting Denmark.

Yellow Cab is the name of Vipp’s 2009 Limited Edition. The inspiration for the new line comes directly from the pulsating streets of New York. Here, in the city that never sleeps, more than 13.000 yellow cabs daily leave their clear impressions.

Besides thousands of yellow cabs, New York is now also home to Vipp’s first showroom outside of Denmark. This marks a new chapter in the almost 70 year long history of Vipp.

New York now also spells Vipp and Yellow Cab. The colour of the year immediately leads your thoughts towards the very special impression that overwhelms you when you find yourself in Times Square.

Vipp Yellow Cab is a new interpretation of the classic Vipp universe that will bring new life to your bathroom and kitchen. A chic and dazzling spring colour giving you a little bite of The Big Apple.

Vipp Yellow Cab is available from February 1st 2009 and throughout the year in leading design stores. To find your nearest dealer, please go to vipp.com. 

Behind New York’s yellow cabs

The famous yellow cabs are the lifeblood of New York and have achieved iconic status, just as Vipp has won praise as an international design icon. With the new series from Vipp, Scandinavian minimalism meets the big city pulse of New York.

Today, New York is home of more than 13.000 yellow cabs. This number is known because a special license is required in order to own a yellow cab. The license was introduced in 1937 at a cost of 10 dollars. The license can be sold on by the owner, and the major taxi companies are willing to pay large sums for it. In 2007, the price of a license had risen to 600.000 dollars.

Gasoline powered taxis were introduced in New York in 1907 by young businessman Harry N. Allen. He was also the first to introduce the yellow colour on taxis. He did this after learning that yellow is the colour easiest seen from a distance. In 1960 the city of New York decided that all taxis were to be painted yellow.

PRICES – VIPP YELLOW CAB:

Vipp 9 soap dispenser €85 / USD 119

Vipp 11 toilet brush €155 / USD 199

Vipp pedal bins €185 – €355 / USD 249 – USD 469

Vipp towels €13 – €35

For nearest dealer, go to vipp.com

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »