Modern Danish Warehouse pop-up opens in London

The second edition of the Modern Danish Warehouse pop-up store is about to open its doors in London's South Kensington, uniting Denmark's inimitable design legacy and its fine education system in the best possible way. This year the neatly curated store will present a large selection - about 200 pieces - of vintage finds and rare items used in Danish schools over the past few decades with a focus on mid-century modern. From blackboards and benches, to chairs, stools and desks, there will be a wide range of beautifully crafted furniture on offer.
'The first Modern Danish Warehouse happened almost as an experiment but we knew we wanted to do it again,' says Sigmar and DMW founder Nina Hertig. 'For us it is a playground. Its temporary nature gives us a lot of freedom but most of all we want to show that there is a vast amount of furniture that is really well made, beautiful and classic coming from Denmark; furniture that one can buy for a very competitive price.'
Danish schools, it seems, have an enviably stylish heritage. It was none other than seminal Danish architect Arne Jacobsen that designed many of the pieces on sale, almost setting the pace for the whole project.
Highlights at DMW include Jacobsen's original furniture created for his influential Munkegaard School project (1956); an establishment Hertig was lucky enough to attend as a child and one which recently got a much-discussed makeover and extension by local firm Dorte Mandrup. The original school, a low grid-based structure located in the Copenhagen suburb of Dyssegaard, is a classic modernist example of experimental and innovative school architecture. The building, comprising 24 pavilion-type classrooms interconnected through a parallel corridor system, was an inventive school prototype, complete with a strong colour palette, bespoke fittings and detailing that rendered it a truly unique architectural experience.
Also in the store are genuinely rare finds that owe their existence to the host of high quality schools built in the country. Additionally, contemporary contributors have been tasked to create bespoke pieces around the theme for the Warehouse - such as Danish type foundry Playtype (a project by design agency e-Types), which have created letter-inspired items, and Lebanon-based lighting company PSLab, which has produced a series of lights out of industrial heaters.
Lasting for two weeks only, with prices starting from £40, the Modern Danish Warehouse is a pop-up that comes top of the class.
A small selection of the over 200 items available to purchase at the pop-up store
Mid-century cabinets and stools
The school theme extends from old blackboards and maps to school desks
All items are finished to typically Danish, exacting standards
1950s green leather armchair by Fritz Henningsen
Green Magnus Olesen armchair
The side facade of the Danish institution that inspired the pop-up store: the Munkegaard School
The Jacobsen designed school’s main courtyard
The courtyard gives glimpses of the new underground extension by local firm, Dorte Mandrup, via two light wells
The courtyard gives glimpses of the new underground extension by local firm, Dorte Mandrup, via two light wells
Jacobsen specified different plants and garden designs for each internal courtyard
The last series of classrooms look towards the teacher’s assembly room, on the right
Light also flows into the school from skylights on the roof
The corridors are brightly coloured according to Jacobsen’s specified scheme
The School’s extension was built underground, so as to have as little impact on the original building as possible
The Dorte Mandrup extension is only visible from the outside through the big light wells in the main courtyard
A light well, seen from below
The extension was designed to be simple but clearly different to the old school
The extension’s clean bright spaces are used for after school clubs and activities
The main assembly room features curtains with original Arne Jacobsen prints
The Munkegaard School extension’s bathroom area, also complete with Arne Jacobsen nature-inspired prints
The Munkegaard School’s main assembly room, restored by Dorte Mandrup Architects to its former glory, using the original Jacobsen colour palette
The brand new store in central Copenhagen of Playtype, a contributor to this year’s edition of the Modern Danish Warehouse
Playtype stock a range of products created in-house and inspired by their fonts
Playtype’s contributions to the Modern Danish Warehouse
ADDRESS
The Garage
North Terrace
London SW3 2AB
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).
-
For London Gallery Weekend 2023, the mood is hardcore
With London Gallery Weekend 2023 almost upon us (2 – 4 June), here’s our list of must-see art exhibitions
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Birkenstock celebrates its most memorable styles with colourful capsule (and matching socks)
Birkenstock marks the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the Gizeh, Arizona and Madrid sandals, respectively, with limited-edition versions
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Zara Home and Vincent Van Duysen’s second collection is a hymn to conviviality
Zara Home+ by Vincent Van Duysen Collection 02 is the second chapter of the sophisticated collaboration and is focused on dining, featuring furniture, tableware and accessories
By Rosa Bertoli • Published
-
Nordic architecture explored in Share, a book about contemporary building
Discussions about Nordic architecture and contemporary practice meet in a new book by Artifice, Share: Conversations about Contemporary Architecture – The Nordic Countries
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
BIG’s Refugee Museum of Denmark addresses ‘one of the world’s greatest challenges’
BIG has converted and extended buildings at a Second World War Danish refugee camp to create the new Refugee Museum of Denmark
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Aalborg’s Utzon Center exhibition celebrates the Danish holiday home
A new exhibition at the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark, titled ‘Holiday Home’, focuses on the iconic Danish sommerhus
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Kengo Kuma’s Hans Christian Andersen’s House mixes nature and fairytale architecture
Odense's Hans Christian Andersen’s House by Kengo Kuma opens its doors in Denmark, inviting the public to explore nature and fairytales
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
Villa Kirk is a surrealist-inspired, futuristic home in Denmark
Spol Architects crafts a ‘hedonistic’ house extension in Denmark, Villa Kirk, featuring curves and attitude aplenty
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
Greenland's Qaammat Pavilion for Unesco celebrates land and people
Architect Konstantin Ikonomidis designs Qaammat, a pavilion just above the Arctic Circle in Greenland, that celebrates the local landscape and the Inuit community
By Nick Compton • Last updated
-
Invisible house in Norway peeks out from its green setting
CF Møller Architects designs Villa Aa, a discreet, near-invisible house in the countryside of Norway, built to respect the surrounding nature and historic farmland of Vestfold
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
Snøhetta goes underground at the Ordrupgaard Art Museum
Snøhetta unveils new subterranean extension at the Ordrupgaard Art Museum in Denmark
By Shawn Adams • Last updated