Simple, warm, natural, human touch - Danish design talk

When we talk about Denmark, people naturally think of Andersen’s beautiful fairy tale and Bohr’s son’s theory of quantum mechanics. The 2000-2001 Danish Design Exhibition was on display in China and gave us the opportunity to appreciate the unique Danish design style.

Denmark is a small country on Scandinavia in Scandinavia. It has a land area of ​​43,000 square kilometers and a population of more than 5 million. However, in the international design community, Denmark is a very influential country. It is unique in the areas of urban planning and design, architectural design, interior design and related furniture, lighting and other design fields, creating a simple, warm, natural and rich Humane living environment and praise for the world. For Danes, a complete living environment should include all levels of space from cities, communities, and residences. The outdoor space of a building is as important as the indoor environment. Different from urban landscape design in some countries, which emphasizes the visual landscape, Danish urban design emphasizes human activities, especially human interaction should be the focus of the human environment design. As people’s material life becomes richer and richer, the psychological needs for interpersonal communication will become higher and higher, and through careful design, outdoor spaces such as squares, pedestrian streets, and parks in cities will become living rooms for the city, enabling citizens to participate in it. Natural communication, gathering or other activities are of great significance for the promotion of contacts and contacts between citizens, especially for the social exchanges between the elderly and children.

In recent decades, the public spaces of many cities in Denmark have been transformed into human nature, people’s outdoor exchange activities have increased significantly, and moving scenes of people’s cordial conversation can be seen everywhere. Just like the living room in the home, the living room in the city also needs carefully designed street furniture, especially various types of seats. As Denmark's famous urban designer Jan Gaier said, a good city should be a city where you can sit anywhere, anytime! It is based on this design concept centered on interpersonal communication that a unique "collective house" emerged in Denmark. This kind of dwelling usually consists of 20-30 families with different occupations and different strata. In the architectural design, it is usually centered on a spacious shared living room, dining room, and activity room. These families have dinner together every day, entertaining, chatting and forming a big family of joy and mutual help. I have visited some of these "collective houses," deeply moved by the kind of deep human touch.

The Danish home design is very simple and practical. Because of its preference for natural colors and textures, it gives people a warm and pleasant feeling and provides important psychological support for family members to spend a long and cold Nordic winter. Danes regard design as a way of life, a material culture, and thus embody the ingenuity of design in every aspect of the home environment. Many household items are not only collections in museums around the world, but also essential daily life in the homes of ordinary people. Created an exquisite lifestyle. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Denmark's furniture design has gained international reputation. The Belle Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of the world's top three furniture exhibition centers. Denmark has a long tradition of craftsmanship and the craftsmanship of furniture production is extremely high.

Danish furniture is very particular about the use of natural materials such as wood, leather, rattan, etc. Most of the wooden furniture is not painted, but the polishing and waxing process is used to maintain the natural texture and texture of the wood. The furniture design respects ergonomic factors very much, rather than simply pursuing formal innovation. All of these make Danish furniture a natural and intimate atmosphere and are therefore very popular. Denmark has many internationally renowned furniture designers. One of the most influential is Hans Wiener. Wiener combines exquisite craftsmanship with modern design concepts and designs a number of outstanding furniture. The human factor is the basis of Wiener's design. His furniture not only shows his deep understanding of the factors needed for the physical comfort of human beings, but also shows an insight into beauty. In his furniture design, there is a kind of richness. The quality of the infectivity. Wiener's design is simple and straightforward, without any unnecessary things. Every beautiful curve, every sculptural detail has its practical purpose. In the 1940s, Wiener designed the famous armchair. The chair was originally designed for people with lumbar illness. It was very comfortable to sit on, and its lyrical and fluent lines were very tempting. It was regarded as a classic chair design. It has become one of the most imitated designs in the world. Wiener is very interested in Chinese traditional furniture. When the author visited him, he saw in his home some of the scale models of Chinese Ming furniture produced by him. This shows that he has deep research on Chinese traditional furniture. His series of "Chinese Chairs" has absorbed some important features of the Chinese Ming Dynasty chair.

Unlike the situation in which China's architectural design and interior design are disjointed from each other, Denmark does not have a specialized interior design profession. Architects not only design buildings, but also design interiors as well as furniture, lamps, furnishings, curtains and carpets to ensure the consistency and unity of architecture and interior style. Jacobson, a famous Danish architect, designed many highly successful furniture and other household items. Different from Wiener, his furniture uses modern materials and modern forming techniques, but the shape of the furniture is more organic. His designs of "ant's chair", "swan" chair and "egg" chair's inspiration are all from the big natural. Denmark has a tradition of rational and effective lighting. Lamp design plays a key role in interior design. The luminaire can be a sculptural work of art, but more importantly it can provide a glare-free, comfortable light and create a suitable atmosphere. This request was put forward by Danish designer Paul Hanningson in the early 1920s. Hanning Sen is the first designer who designs lighting based on the scientific function principle of lighting. He designed a series of PH lamps popular in Europe and the United States. This luminaire has a very high aesthetic value, but this quality comes from a scientific analysis of the lighting requirements, not due to additional decoration.

All PH lamps have the following important features:

1. The light source cannot be seen directly from any angle to avoid glare.

2. All light is reflected to the work surface to obtain a soft, uniform lighting effect, and avoid strong contrast between light and shade caused by shadows.

3. Compensate the incandescent light spectrum to obtain a pleasant light color.

Hanningsen designed more than 40 kinds of PH lamps in order to meet different lighting requirements. Although these lamps have different shapes, they all follow the above design principles. They harmonize with the modern indoor environment with good lighting quality and simple and beautiful shapes, complement each other. In addition to Hanningsen, there are many designers in Denmark who have created a large number of outstanding lamps, all of which contribute to the enrichment of the light culture traditions in Denmark and the world. In modern home environments, household appliances are also a very important factor in addition to furniture and lamps. In this regard, Danish designers have also made a great contribution, making home appliances, especially home audio-visual equipment, a bright spot in the family. The State of Denmark and the Oulu Husen Company (B&O for short) are the world’s top audio and television manufacturers. For many years, B&O has been committed to making technical facilities suitable for the family environment. It has designed a large number of products with excellent quality, elegant appearance, convenient operation and full of features of the company, reaching world-class standards and enjoying reputation in various western countries. The design of B&O became a classic and symbol of Danish design. To sum up, the core of Danish design lies in its people-centered concept. The design is rooted in people's daily lives, which greatly improves the people's quality of life. This is worthy of our reference.

(Article published in "New Home" magazine)