Get their look: Feminine Scandi dining room

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This feminine Scandi dining room is the domain of Pernille and her family. She’s a blogger, Instagrammer and homeware shop owner based over in Denmark.

The repetition of deep purple, soft pink and grey is very pleasing on the eye. The deep, wine colour on the right-hand wall is Sadolin‘s ‘Shady Red’. The light pink colour on the far wall is ‘Soft Blush’ from the same company. ‘Creme de la Rose’ by Crown is very similar to the latter, and is available here in the UK. The glossy, white-painted floorboards bounce sunlight up & around the room.

Soft textiles, potted cacti, hanging kokedama and framed artwork give a homely feel.

Mannequin mystery

We had a mystery mannequin on our hands this week. It caught our eye at the local flea market and we liked the form. It looked familiar, but we weren’t sure who the designer actually was. We thought it dated from the 1980s era – and had an Ikea look about it. You’d expect the internet to be full of pictures of relatively recent Ikea products, but there were hardly any to be found.

We delved a little further and think it was designed by Laurids Lønborg of Denmark – you can certainly find miniature versions of it with the original Laurids Lonborg label. And the Ikea hunch seems correct as we think this large, 6ft tall version was indeed sold through some Ikea stores in the 1980s/90s. There were produced in both male and female forms – strong, yet simple lines and and very Memphis Group in style.

It’s quite an attention grabber. They’re not at all common and getting quite sought after it seems. If you want first dibs before it gets listed on eBay or taken to our antiques centre space, then just drop us a line.

Danish Fortnight at Neiman-Marcus

We thought that we’d take a closer look at the vintage Neiman-Marcus poster that we showed in yesterday’s Forthcoming Attractions post. As we mentioned, we’ve had this poster in storage for some time and have just had it framed. It looks fantastic!

It’s the work of Danish artist, Ib Antoni. He designed textiles, porcelain and lamps too, but it’s his posters for which he’s most famous. He was much in demand during his relatively short career. His list of clients is tremendous – from tourist boards to large manufacturing companies. Tragically, he died quite young in a hotel fire aged just 44. He’s much loved in Denmark and indeed worldwide. He left a wonderful body of work with over 300 poster designs and is one of our favourite illustrators.

The US department store Neiman-Marcus developed the concept of special fortnights to promote sales in the quiet autumn period before the Christmas rush. They started in 1957 with French Fortnight. It celebrated the distinctive culture, cuisine and fashion of that particular nation. They were a great success and continued up until the 1980s. Danish Fortnight took place in Dallas in 1964.

This extract comes from a local newspaper at the time:

“Dallas’ Neiman-Marcus will open its Danish Fortnight tomorrow with royal Danes and Great Danes in attendance. And if it’s anything like the fairyland Swiss Fortnight of last year, start wishing that your husbands will find some business in Dallas during the two-week event. The specialty store promises to bring the greatness of Denmark to visitors, dramatizing the Tivoli Gardens with its imaginative play settings for children, the works of Hans Christian Andersen, George Jensen silver and the finest art of the country–its contemporary furniture and needlework. Dallas will join Neiman-Marcus in the exposition with a Danish Street fair sponsored by antique shops, Danish films and Danish entertainers in Dallas supper clubs.” _{Northwest Arkansas Times, Saturday October 17 1964}

There would no doubt have been some wonderful mid-century modern homewares on offer!

Amazingly, we acquired more than one copy of this rare vintage poster at the time we bought them. So, we could send one rolled up in a tube – you could then choose your own frame and indeed framer – and it will obviously be much cheaper & safer than sending the glazed version. This original poster measures 88cm x 61.5cm. Our blog readers will get first refusal, so get in touch if your interested.

Eva chair

We’ve chosen a piece of vintage Danish furniture for this week’s favourite buy.

This Eva carver armchair was designed by Niels Koefoed in 1964.

The chair is made of teak with a plain, black, leatherette seat. It has a strong mid century modern look just standing bare, but we also like the addition of a bold colour throw or cushion. Orange always works well!

Its condition is very good and it’s fully stamped and labelled to the underside.

It’s very elegant and would work well as a dining, office or occasional chair. As with most of our furniture buys, it’s on its way to our antiques centre space, but you’re welcome to collect or have a courier pick it up. The price is £125, but we could knock off the twenty five if it helps with the petrol costs!

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Danish

Get their look: Feminine Scandi dining room

Mannequin mystery

Danish Fortnight at Neiman-Marcus

Eva chair