An architectural flower shop Tableau opens in Copenhagen

Flower show with concrete walls, blue floor and industrial lighting

David Thulstrup has designed a new flower store in Copenhagen, Tableau.

(Image credit: Irina Boersma)

last updated 16 October 2022

Tableau, a newly opened flower shop in the heart of Copenhagen, showcases flora as art. Sitting on Store Kongensgade, its design was tasked to the ascendant studio of architect David Thulstrup (most recently behind the new Noma and the Vipp Hotel), who completely reinvented the flower-store concept for Julius Værnes Iversen, owner of the city’s well-known BB Blomster.

Treating flowers as another material with which to work, Thulstrup pared back his design, allowing the living elements to take centre stage. ‘It was important to create a platform where the flowers would shine and stand out,’ he explains.

The unique brief was centred around the idea of using podiums to showcase the flora, with each piece being custom designed for Tableau. ‘The geometric shapes and cold materiality of the podiums, along with the blue vinyl floor, stand in strong contrast to the flowers exhibited, elevating their nature and giving their organic shapes and varied colours all the attention,’ says Thulstrup.

Flowers and foliage in a metal tall trough in a room with concrete walls and a blue floor — *New Copenhagen flower shop Tableau, designed by Studio David Thulstrup*

Having stripped back the ceiling and walls to expose raw concrete in the 19th-century building, the architect worked primarily with what he describes as honest materials, collaborating with local artists such as sculptor Poul Isbak. Singular floral displays of orchids and proteas sit atop the studio’s glass-brick podiums, locally commissioned terrazzo stone slabs, and clean metalwork of polished chrome and perforated sheets. Meanwhile the storefront’s galvanised steel centrepiece sits at eye level, greeting visitors with a sea of colourful flowers. Tableau’s custom lighting glows clean and understated, with the mood-adjustable LEDs floating above in mirrored metal finishes.

At the end of the store, a bespoke pot-plant formed from a steel cylinder layered with pipe-cut pots, adds illumination. The central shaft is filled by a free-standing light sculpture, radiating white by day, and transitioning into a mesmerising purple growth light that fills the store by night, subtly marking yet another addition of Thulstrup’s design to the Danish capital.

Flower displays and glass-brick podiums against a bare concrete wall and blue floor — Singular floral displays of orchids and proteas sit atop the studio’s glass-brick podiums

A custom-designed podium housing plant life — Detail of the central bespoke pot-plant steel display that closes out the space

Stone and glass podiums against concrete walls — Thulstrup kept the design minimal, using materials that would complement the plant life

Glass and metal displays on a blue floor — The walls in the 19th century building that houses the shop have been exposed

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Studio David Thulstrup website (opens in new tab)

ADDRESS

Tableau
Store Kongensgade 50
1264 Copenhagen
Denmark

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TOPICS

Denmark