Danish Light: 8 Ideas to Steal from a New Restaurant in Copenhagen by a Studio on the Rise

February 21, 2020 HOME HACKS


Midway through a particularly bleak New York City winter, I’ve been fantasizing about a potential escape—most recently, to Copenhagen. A few weeks ago I was planning an imaginary/hopeful trip, looking at airfares, and poking around the Internet for new hotels and wine bars to try when I stumbled upon Hverdagen—a new restaurant in the city’s industrial-cool Kødbyen neighborhood with warm, clean-lined interiors, paper lanterns, and terra cotta-colored details—and added it to my wish-list itinerary.

A little more digging revealed that the restaurant interiors are by Danish studio Vermland, founded by cabinet maker Joakim Tolf Vulpius and young architect Anton Bak—the very same Anton Bak behind a scrappy two-week, $1000 renovation in Brooklyn we featured a couple of years ago, when he was a spacial designer at the Royal Danish Academy and his partner, Kristina Line, was interning at Søren Rose Studio in New York. The design world is small.

Back to the restaurant: It’s full of lovely, subtle design details to take note of—and looks well worth a visit should you find yourself in Copenhagen.

Photography by Jannick Boerlum, courtesy of Vermland.

1. Hang the table.

Above: To encourage shared, family-style meals, the dining room is designed around a long communal table, which also serves to create separate spaces within the single room. (Take a close look: The table is suspended from the ceiling—without any screws or nails, thanks to clever joinery.)

2. Keep to a tight color palette.

The serene, clean-lined interiors feel warm and fresh thanks to a two-tone color palette: rusty terra cottas and pinks (on the crockery, banquettes, stool tops) and minty greens (the mugs and glassware holding flatware and salt and pepper on every table).
Above: The serene, clean-lined interiors feel warm and fresh thanks to a two-tone color palette: rusty terra cottas and pinks (on the crockery, banquettes, stool tops) and minty greens (the mugs and glassware holding flatware and salt and pepper on every table).

3. Disguise the W.C.

Behind a statement-making pink curtain (from Kvadrat)? The door to the washroom.
Above: Behind a statement-making pink curtain (from Kvadrat)? The door to the washroom.

4. And keep materials of a piece.

Above: Every piece of furniture in the restaurant is made from a single Douglas fir tree and inspired by Japanese joinery.

5. Add texture with dried branches.

Our latest favorite example of dried branches as decor: cloud-like bunches hung above the banquettes.
Above: Our latest favorite example of dried branches as decor: cloud-like bunches hung above the banquettes.

6. Employ the subtlest of checks.

The banquettes feature leather seat cushions (from Sorensen Leather) and back cushions covered in checkered fabric, a play on a kitchen dishtowel and a nod to everyday, casual dining, Bak and Vulpius say.
Above: The banquettes feature leather seat cushions (from Sorensen Leather) and back cushions covered in checkered fabric, a play on a kitchen dishtowel and a nod to everyday, casual dining, Bak and Vulpius say.

7. Hang lanterns.

Simple paper lanterns add a bit of buoyancy. (For more, see src=
Above: Simple paper lanterns add a bit of buoyancy. (For more, see 11 Times Noguchi Lamps Stole the Spotlight.)

8. Use food as decor.

And, in custom shelves behind the bar, bundles of chilis, heads of garlic, and bunches of herbs make for an impromptu garland.
Above: And, in custom shelves behind the bar, bundles of chilis, heads of garlic, and bunches of herbs make for an impromptu garland.

More Copenhagen restaurants and restaurants on my someday-itinerary:



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