My First 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen Changed How I Think About Design Events.

Karl Monies at Other Circle.

Magnus Pettersen at Other Circle.

Marble Partners at Other Circle.

Sowden at Other Circle.

Modern Romance by Tekla at Charlottenburg Palace.

Structures of Living by Frama.

Structures for Living and Care Room at Frama.

FRAMA’s 3 Days Of Design tradition is an open-invitation to an open-air gathering that celebrates their exhibition.

A big personal highlight from the week was this unexpected reunion with dear Stine & Enrico of GamFratesi.

Echoes Of Form by GamFratesi for Alpi at Thorvaldsens Museum. Photo: Federico Cedrone.

The gobsmacking BIG HQ by Bjarke Ingels Group opened to the public for the first time. Photos courtesy of BIG.

BIG HQ visit was my top highlight. See more over on Instagram. Photos: Dana Tomić Hughes.

Project Materia by Tableau for Édition Solenne explored the potential of three foundational materials—bronze, marble, and glass by leading contemporary designers. Photos: Armin Tehrani.

Patina of Use exhibition by Studio Daniel Kutlesovski at Spaces Within showroom.

Audo’s Monuments Installation was one of the week’s highlights.

Audo’s Monuments Installation Proves Restraint Can Be as Powerful as Ornamentation.

This installation spans Audo House's diverse environments—café, restaurant, concept shop, exhibition rooms and courtyard—each reimagined to explore monumental design principles.

Messy design goodness: Home From Home by Charlotte Taylor at Noura Residency. Photos: Elizabeth Heltoft Arnby.

There’s something extremely special about experiencing a design event for the first time. No preconceptions, no benchmarks, no jadedness born from years of similar encounters. When I finally made it to Copenhagen for 3 Days of Design this June, I discovered an event that operates on an entirely different frequency to anything I’ve experienced in my years covering the global design circuit.

I must preface this by saying that this was definitely not just another work trip for me. Copenhagen and Denmark hold a profoundly special place in my heart from my formative years, so making a trip back wasn’t just about attending another design event—I was having a full-blown love affair with everything this magical city had to offer, including reconnecting with the younger version of myself who once lived there.

It was immediately obvious that Copenhagen wasn’t just hosting 3 Days of Design—it became 3 Days of Design. The city’s compact scale, where nothing sits more than 15 minutes apart, creates an intimacy that transforms how you engage with design. No rushing, no queues, no FOMO-induced panic attacks—just pure, beautiful immersion.

Before we go any further, I would like to invite our Sydney readers to a special, intimate gathering on August 7th—DESIGN HORIZONS. This inaugural event welcomes our design community to global creative conversations that matter.

Join me in an intimate setting to hear industry leaders share firsthand insights from Copenhagen’s influential design event. If you value authentic dialogue about design process and cultural exchange, this gathering is for you. For more information and to secure your ticket, please visit this link.

Danish high vibes courtesy of Hay’s midsummer bar at Apollo.

The Danish Difference

The Danish approach to hospitality and openness fundamentally shapes this event. Operating within a trust-based society where happiness isn’t just a concept but a daily reality, the Danes have created a design event that feels less like a commercial showcase and more like an invitation into their world. During the summer solstice, with picture-perfect weather and impossibly long days engineered for maximum euphoria, Copenhagen becomes a stage where design isn’t performed—it’s lived.

This distinction is important. While other design weeks can feel like elaborate theatre productions, 3 Days of Design operates with quiet confidence. Danish brands don’t shout about their heritage or legacy—they often simply open their doors and let their work speak. When you visit local brands on their home turf in their beautiful showrooms, you’re witnessing decades of craftsmanship and design thinking in its natural habitat, and it’s quite extraordinary.

Can We Please Stop with the Milan Comparison?

I need to address the elephant in the room—the constant comparison to Milan Design Week. So many conversations I had in Copenhagen somehow circled back to “Is this the new Milan?” and “Will 3 Days overtake MDW?” and honestly, I want to scream every time I hear it.

Newsflash: 3 Days of Design is NOT the new Milan, nor should it try to become it. This obsession with comparison suggests there’s only room for one significant design event globally, which is not only ridiculous but actively harmful to the diversity of design conversations happening worldwide.

What happens in Copenhagen can’t be replicated anywhere else because the city itself IS the event. The Danish character, that incredible sense of trust and openness, the perfect scale—these aren’t marketing strategies, they’re cultural realities. When we keep positioning 3 Days as Milan’s successor, we’re essentially saying that other design weeks don’t matter unless they’re set against impossibly photogenic backdrops. And that’s just lazy, reductive thinking.

I think it’s fantastic that Milan has some healthy competition, and I love that other design weeks can learn from Copenhagen’s approach. But can we please just appreciate 3 Days for what it actually is—something super special in its own right—rather than constantly measuring it against something completely different?

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Standout Moments

Audo’s complete transformation blew me away. I’d been lucky enough to stay there just a few weeks earlier, so witnessing the full metamorphosis was incredible. Every single space had been reimagined—café, retail, workspaces, courtyard, hotel rooms—creating a cohesive brand narrative that felt effortless but considered. The level of detail and commitment was staggering.

But here’s where I completely lost it: the BIG office opening to the public for the first time. The architectural experience alone would have been enough to send me into raptures—that ground floor space with its mind-bending ceiling height and those extraordinary steel stairs so sharp, they could cut your retinas. Layered on top was an exhibition dedicated to materiality that coincides with Bjarke Ingels’ year-long editorship of Domus magazine.

The combination of spectacular architecture and the rigour and poetry of conceptual thinking dedicated to materials—the unsung heroes of great architecture—was absolutely transcendent. Set on Copenhagen’s outer pier with ocean views stretching to the horizon, the location felt symbolic for a practice that has consistently pushed boundaries despite criticism. This was, hands down, the most extraordinary and inspiring thing I experienced all week.

Armadillo’s Gestures Of Home two part exhibition. Photo: Mariluz Vidal.

Armadillo's Copenhagen Debut: Agra Forma Collection Unveiled at 3 Days of Design.

Armadillo's international debut at 3 Days of Design marked a pivotal moment for the Australian textile brand. The Agra Forma collection, developed with Tom Fereday, represents a sophisticated evolution from rug-making into furniture design.

YSG X Bankston’s Streaks Collection demonstrates that functional hardware can carry genuine personality.

Bankston & YSG’s Streaks Marries Perception-Challenging Design with Unadulterated Beauty of Timber.

This spirited collaboration between Bankston and YSG Studio's Yasmine Ghoniem showcases natural timber's inherent beauty through innovative stratified banding techniques.

NAU’s European debut showcased the best of contemporary Australian design. Photo: Armin Tehrani.

NAU Makes a European Debut at 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen.

The curated exhibition at Galerie Mikael Andersen featured new collections by Tom Fereday and established pieces by Adam Goodrum.

Sydney-based Design By Them unveiled new collections at Galleri Susanne Ottesen.

Australian Presence

Seeing the Australian design contingent absolutely killing it in Copenhagen filled me with immense pride. Armadillo’s unveiling of Agra Forma with Tom Fereday was pure class—watching the Danish design community respond with genuine enthusiasm to this collaboration was truly special and well deserved.

Design by Them’s show at Galleri Susanne Ottesen was effortlessly cool and polished, presenting some fantastic new pieces. Bankston and YSG’s hardware collaboration was fire, positioned in the most epic central city location with a vibey exhibition to match. As for Nau’s debut at Galerie Mikael Andersen, the aperitivo hour was absolutely packed, which tells you everything you need to know about how ready the world is for what we’re creating down under.

The Experimental Edge

Charlotte Taylor deserves special mention for her rockstar effort in bringing together 40 international designers in what can only be described as a creative person’s beautifully messy apartment. The fact that she actually stayed in this space for 3 Days is quite mad. But it was such a clever way to demonstrate how exceptional pieces can elevate even the most chaotic environments, because let’s be honest, most of us don’t live in homes that resemble typical magazine covers. There was something so refreshingly relatable about the whole thing, even though the mess gave me slight anxiety. It felt like the show was giving the middle finger to the over-polished image culture dominating design media right now. Yes!

Tableau’s group exhibition with Edition Solenne, Project Materia, was another favourite—their curatorial vision was clear and beautifully executed, centring around nine renowned artists working across diverse disciplines who engaged with three foundational materials: bronze, marble, and glass.

We really need to talk about Other Circle. These legends weren’t even part of the official 3 Days programme (meaning they didn’t pay to participate), but their independent show absolutely quenched my thirst for something that was otherwise missing from the event—experimental, fresh work that wasn’t primarily focused on commercial success but on offering new perspectives.

This kind of boundary-pushing thinking felt absolutely essential alongside all the established brands. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing heritage brands in their natural habitat, but to me it’s vital in any design week to encounter work that prioritises innovation and creativity over market viability. Other Circle provided that necessary balance.

Legacy and Reflection

The Gam Fratesi installation for Alpi at the Thorvaldsen Museum was another memorable highlight, made even more special by the chance encounter with the designers themselves. Squeal!

The French Embassy’s textile exhibition, featuring four female artists, was also quite extraordinary. The ornate palazzo setting certainly elevated the experience, proving that during design weeks, context matters as much as content.

My overdue pilgrimage to Arne Jacobsen’s seminal work, the SAS Royal Hotel, particularly the preserved Room 606, was a fitting closure to my maiden experience at 3 Days. Encountering this 65-year-old design vision reinforced Copenhagen’s role as a keeper of modernist principles that continue to influence contemporary practice. I shared a little more from my visit over on Instagram if you’re interested in seeing it.

My biggest takeaway from 3 Days of Design was a reminder that design isn’t about performance, but about presence, intimacy, and connection. Every interaction I had felt authentic, positive, and relaxed. It reinforced the fact that design is meant to be experienced and shared, not just showcased.

The week ultimately reminded me why I fell in love with design in the first place. When events prioritise genuine connection over commercial transaction, when cities embrace their design community rather than merely tolerate them, when brands trust their work enough to present it simply—that’s when design reveals its true power.

Copenhagen delivered completely, charging me with positive energy and renewed commitment to pursuing work that genuinely matters.

3 Days of Design isn’t trying to be anything other than itself, and that’s precisely why it works so beautifully. The question now isn’t whether I’ll return in 2026, but whether other design events can learn from Copenhagen’s example without losing their own unique character. Because some things—the very best of things—can’t be replicated, only appreciated.

Dana X

p.s. I’ll leave you here with plenty more goodness that caught my eye. Enjoy!

Michael Anastassiades in his London studio with the new After Chair for Fritz Hansen.

After Chair by Michael Anastassiades for Fritz Hansen.

Archival drawing of PK23, courtesy of Fritz Hansen.

PK23 Lounge Chair by Poul Kjærholm reissued by Fritz Hansen.

Solae Lamp by Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen.

The Library at &Tradition showroom with new shelving by Industrial Facility.

Hi Lo Lounge by Anderssen & Voll for &Tradition.

Scenes from the &Tradition’s beautiful showroom.

Fredericia showroom.

Fredericia presented the relaunch of a Danish design icon: Mogens Koch’s MK Bookcase System.

Original Sketch of Mogens Koch’s MK Bookcase System, courtesy of Fredericia.

Nanna Ditzel’s Bench for Two reissued by Fredericia.

Nanna Ditzel's Sculptural Bench for Two Returns with Contemporary Colour Stories.

When Nanna Ditzel first unveiled her Bench for Two in 1989, the sculptural seating piece challenged every conventional notion of what a bench should be.

Notable new releases from Hay include the Amanta Sofa and Pyramid Table Lamp.

The Amanta Sofa by Mario Bellini, an Italian design icon from the 1960s, reissued by HAY.

Pyramid Table Lamps by Ana Kraš for HAY.

Upglas Lamp by Luca Nichetto for Astep.

Dream View Bench by Muuto.

Palma Pouf by British-born Ghanaian rising star Kusheda Mensah for Hem. Photo: Erik Wåhlstrom.

Verner Panton Series 270 F Armchair, designed in 1965, reissued by Verpan.

Gaetano Pesce by Meritalia at Other Circle.

Bolia x Charlie Roberts at Other Circle.

Adorno at Other Circle.

Avillafranciscka at Other Circle.

Galerie MLS at Other Circle.

Andreas Murhudis x Space Magazine at Other Circle.

Volum at Other Circle.

NM3 at Other Circle.

Muller Van Severeno x Oficek GDV for BD Barcelona.

Muller Van Severeno x Oficek GDV for BD Barcelona.

Joy Objects at Other Circle.

Joy Objects at Other Circle.

Emma Clarke at Other Circle.

Emma Clarke at Other Circle.

Nick Ross at Other Circle.

Niko June at Other Circle.

VÆRKTØJ 2 group show. Photos: Peter Vinther.

Alvide Holm. Photo: Peter Vinther.

Kasper Salto. Photo: Peter Vinther.

Tom Dixon. Photo: Peter Vinther.

Depping & Jørgensen. Photo: Peter Vinther.

Maria Bruun’s Subject Matter Paravent at MycoWorks, a sculptural, light-filtering screen crafted from FSC-certified wood and translucent Reishi™ panels. Photo: Armin Tehrani.

Eaves Lamp by Atelier Axo at MycoWorks. Photo: Armin Tehrani.

Simone Pheulpin with her extraordinary textile sculpture for French Fiber. Portrait: Antoine Lippens.

Folklore by Mona Cara was part of French Fiber. Photo: Galerie Ideale Adrienthibault.

Aurelie Mathigot’s ‘Insurrection Apaisante’ and ‘Pliage’ at French Fibre. Photo: Maison Parisienne.

Vipp Guesthouse by Studio KO.

Detail of Vipp Guesthouse by Studio KO.

Studio Oliver Gustav x Michèle Lamy. Photo: Ida Havn.

Studio Oliver Gustav x Michèle Lamy. Photo: Ida Havn.

[Photography credits as noted.]