Design By Them Returned to Copenhagen With Five New Australian Collections.

Twelve months after their Copenhagen debut, Design By Them was back at 3daysofdesign—and the encore was anything but a victory lap. The Sydney studio took over Dronningens Tværgade 19 in the heart of the city, marking over 18 years of Australian design with five new releases and a supporting cast of DBT staples.

What we love about this outing is the line-up. Co-directors Sarah Gibson and Nicholas Karlovasitis have handed the floor to a properly stellar cohort—Adam Goodrum, Trent Jansen, Marcel Sigel, Tom Fereday and Gibson Karlo themselves—each bringing a distinct accent to the same conversation about material, form and restraint.

Adam Goodrum’s Field Chair is the quiet achiever of the bunch. The DIA Hall of Fame designer wanted something “restrained and understated, while still carrying a quiet sense of playfulness… light, approachable, something that feels familiar and intuitive, yet distinctive through its use of colour, material, and form.” In a rainbow of powder-coated tones, it nails exactly that.

At the other end of the emotional register sat Megafauna by Trent Jansen. A swollen, deep-blue velvet creature drawing on the tradition of Australian Gothic, Jansen describes it as “silent and still, submerged in a dark swamp, its skin wrinkled with constant exposure to moisture.” Equal parts seductive and unsettling — and unmistakably his.

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Elsewhere, Marcel Sigel’s Marcel Modules push exaggerated proportions and uncompromising geometry into chunky, tubular shelving. Tom Fereday’s Sail Table, formed from raw aluminium, celebrated that utilitarian, go-anywhere ethos he does so well. And Gibson Karlo landed two armchairs — the rural-metalwork-inspired Cattle Armchair and the double-profiled Twill Armchair, the latter nodding to plasticine strips and twill weaves. Proof of their pulling power? While one of the armchairs sat in the window, we witnessed Ronan Bouroullec stopping to admire it from the street, then stepped inside for a closer look—about the highest endorsement going from one of the world’s finest industrial designers.

Joining the new work are DBT favourites by Angus Easthope, Daniel Tucker, Daniel Emma, Danielah Martinez and Rhys Cooper.

It’s a sharp, confident showing that proved last year’s debut was no fluke—Australian design holds its own on the Copenhagen stage, no apologies required.

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Design By Them's Copenhagen Debut Showcases Two Decades of Australian Excellence.

Expanse represented both celebration and strategic expansion for Design By Them, featuring standout pieces that demonstrate the brand's evolving design language.

[Images courtesy of Design By Them. Photography by Tonya Matyu.]