The materials researcher, civil engineer and designer Herbert Krenchel turns 90 years today. Herbert is the father of the Krenit bowl which is a perfect example of good Danish design and through the years it has become a design icon. We want to celebrate and wish him congratulations by taking a short look at his extraordinary life.
1922 - Herbert Krenchel is born in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.
1953 - Herbert Krenchel makes the first drawings of the Krenit bowl. Already half a year later the A-bowl and the C-bowl is introduced on an exhibition in Forum,Copenhagen.
1954 - The Krenit bowl wins a gold medal at the Triennial in Milan,Italy
1961 - The Danish interior magazine “Bo Bedre” is published for the first time. The Krenit bowl is on the cover.
1964 - The production of Krenit stops. Since 1953 more than 1 million Krenit bowls have been produced. Until 2009 the Krenit bowl is only available via auctions and flea markets around the world.
1964 - Herbert Krenchel is the first to receive the award ”Betonprisen” for his work. At the same time he is named Dr. tech because of his paper about “Fibrous Reinforcement”.
2009 - Krenit bowl is yet again available for Krenit lovers around the world as Normann Copenhagen puts it into production as collaboration with Herbert Krenchel.
2010 - The Krenit bowl is launched in more colours and sizes and is now available in six sizes and six colours.
2012 - Herbert Krenchel turns 90 years on April 16th.
Happy Birthday Herbert from all of us in Normann Copenhagen.
Our new Beater designed by Ding3000 has just received the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2012. With its different and innovative designs Beater impressed the Jury and won the prestigious design competition. We are of course really proud of this.
More than 1,800 manufactures and designers from 58 countries participated in the battle of winning the exclusive award, which is a quality proof for aesthetic and lasting design. In total 4,515 products were judged by 30 International Jury members.
Award-winning Designtrio Besides Red Dot Award 2012, Ding3000 won the Good Design Award 2011 for the Rainbow Trivet earlier this year. Beater has also already gained lots of attention at its launch in spring 2012. The British design magazine Wallpaper has for example chosen Beater as new and standout pieces in the interior special (W*157).
Here at the Normann Copenhagen HQ we always think it is exciting to get to know a bit more about the designers. Therefore we have asked Ding3000 some questions about their way of work, how Beater came about and their latest inspirations.
Why do you think Beater has won the prestigious Red Dot Award? “It’s difficult to say what’s going on in the heads of a design jury, but I guess it’s probably because besides all shape, material or colour issues we have a useful product innovation here. An usual eggbeater is quite a space consuming object and one of only a few kitchen tools which can not be stored away in a drawer. We found a solution for this problem by making our whisk foldable.”
Both Rainbow Trivet and Beater Whisk have won an award within 2 months. What characterizes a typical Ding3000 product? “We try to design products which offer a benefit in multiple ways. It can be a product which is a classical problem-solver like the BEATER whisk. But we think it’s also worth to design products which
- are more beautiful because they evoke positive associations or reminiscences
- bring a little bit of magic in everyday’s life because they work with a trick or legerdemain
- put smiles on faces because they are enriched by a healthy dose of humour”
Is there a fun story behind the design of a foldable whisk? “Actually there is: One of us did a very poor drawing of a whisk which was inspired by a bunch of straw tied together with a rope but with no additional function. Then somebody else misunderstood the drawing and said: Wow: A foldable whisk! So our advice to all the designers in the world: Always draw poorly that someone can misunderstand your design and finally make your product better.”
What was the first dish you made with Beater? “Since the Pannarello of our espresso machine is not working, we use it to froth the milk for our coffee in the office.”
How is a typical Ding3000 day at the office?
“Unfortunately we are spending too much time sitting in front of our computers checking E-mails but we try hard to focus on the things which make us better and more creative designers like sketching, arsing around, being lazy, walk the dog, building quick mock-ups, going to the hardware store, discussing with the manufacturer etc.”
Can you mention the last five things that inspired you for a new design?
Yesterday, we went to the opening of the NOMA Lab. The press and friends of the NOMA house were invited to experience the new innovative and creative place where worldclass food is created by the chefs of NOMA. We were there as we, together with GXN, have developed the STAR lamp which are now giving light to the room. STAR lamp is exclusively made for NOMA.
Nordic, Raw and Playful The NOMA Lab is connected to NOMA situated in a former warehouse on the national registry of protected buildings. The tight restrictions meant that GXN was required to design the interior without using so much as one single nail in the walls or flooring. The approach was to design four central multi-functional storage units; each composed from over five hundred uniquely formed wooden cubes. Curving playfully throughout the space, these units divide the 200M2 room into smaller areas accommodating the Food Lab, the herb garden, staff areas and office. Raw and simple, through colours and forms, it captures a unique Nordic aesthetic. True to the restaurant’s philosophy, the NOMA Lab is developed exclusively using Nordic materials.
We are happy to announce that our colourful and decorative Rainbow Trivet, designed by the German design trio Ding3000, has been awarded the prestigious 2011 GOOD DESIGN Award.
From the designers point of view:
“Design has a magical ability to make products desirable as opposed to merely functional. When we developed Rainbow Trivet it was a question of finding the optimal folding mechanism, making the finished trivet both aesthetically attractive and practical to use. Rainbow Trivet has a playful expression and looking at the colours puts you in a good mood.”
The award is hosted by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture & Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd and is awarded for quality designs of the highest form, function and aesthetic appearance. GOOD DESIGN Award was established in Chicago in 1950 by Edgar J. Kaufmann Jr. in collboration with design pioneers such as Eero Saarinen, Charles & Ray Eames and Florence Knoll.
We are proud to announce the winners of the ”Be creative and win 2011″ competition.
During the competition we recieved many great submissions. Though this is the fourth time running the competition we are still surprised and amazed by the creativity of the submissions. We recieved 28 submissions which got 1349 likes! Thanks to all of you who submitted and especially to all of you who “liked” on Facebook.
The winners are:
Most creative idea
Philip Christensen, turned the Norm 06 lamp, a swing vase, and a Krenit Salad set into a beautiful swan. Congratulations!
Best Craftmanship
Congratulations to Emma Sivell!
From the first time we saw the three bears we fell in love with them. It takes quite an imagination and craftmanship to turn a wine stopper, the Kula hooks and the fusion ladle into three bears.
Most liked picture on Facebook.
Just like last year we let our fans on Facebook pick their favourite. And this year it was “Pip” by Tanja Nørgaard, with more than 200 Likes. Congratulations.
When have you met an excellent sales person able to communicate a product to you by telling multiple stories and creating several pictures in your head, making you desperate to buy her/his products?
Their latest feature of adding recipes for drinks and food is mind-blowing and plays with almost all your senses. Still nor Scope or we have figured out how to have add smell and taste to the online experience – but mouth-watering it is.
Experience for yourself and start cooking – no need to understand Japanese:)
At the Normann Copenhagen flagship store in Copenhagen, we have mixed brands and products that we love, trying to create inspiring settings of lifestyle and shopping experience. One of the trendsetters of the design industry has set new standards taking a brand showroom to a whole new level.
The Swiss furniture company Vitra has a stunning collection of world class architecture at their Weil am Rhein location in the crossing between Germany, Switzerland and France. We find the Vitra house from 2010 to be the best of this impressiv collection covering some of the biggest names around.
We love super creative people. They inspire us, provoke us and make us move in new directions. Creative people are always on the move – trying new things, discovering new land. One of the best examples of super creativity are the Danish design duo Claydies.
Claydies a.k.a. Karen Kjældgård-Larsen and Tine Broksø
One project from Claydies is True feelings where they designed a raw and romantic porcelain series blindfolded… we don’t know if they in fact were naked during the process… we will ask them next time they drop by the Normann HQ.
Killing a vase! – part of the Chamber of horrors exhibition at Malmö Art Museum.
A ceramicist´s worst nightmare was Claydies contribution to thinking out of the box when it comes to creative use of clay. They exhibited the murder of 12 clay pots at the Malmö Art Museum.
The making of the Grass vase
At Normann Copenhagen we are proud to produce 3 of Claydies designs. The Grass vase, the True feelings candle holder and the beautiful woolen rugs Dahlia which will be back in stock this summer.
Claydies just published their very own magazine full of fun (like a Claydies Crosswords) and exciting stories… it’s a must read for anyone who like creativity and design.
What do you do if you live on a small iceland in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and you want to attract the attention of the rest of the design world?
With its mid Atlantic location and a headcount of little over 300.000 heads of all ages, it is really impressive to see their involvement and dedication towards spreading their viewpoints on design.
Like Denmark, Iceland is a small nation, with a low headcount. With much less of a Design tradition, design institutions and design network, it is mindblowing what they have been able to achive in only 3 years of running the Design March.
How awesome is this. Imagine taking a shower but instead of drops of water falling on you – its Lego bricks. Well now you can. The super creative people from Billund has created the worlds first Lego brick shower. Spotted in Copenhagen during the Lego World expo.
Normann Copenhagen is a way of living - a mindset. We like to think of it as putting on a pair of glasses and seeing the world in a different way. We love to challenge the conventional design rules.
On this blog we write about our design, the designers, and interesting things we spot around our hometown - Copenhagen.
