Saturday the 2th of July was a wet day in Copenhagen – very wet! Within hours we received the same amount of rain that we normally get in two months – 150 mm or close to 6 inches. Here is a few pictures from the basement in our Flagship Store at Østerbrogade.

The store is open for business – and right now we are busy moving everything that is not wet up onto ground level… you see, nothing can stop a great Design Sale – not even a waterwold in the basement!

Kind of ironic!

Interesting reflection on the floor (its the Norm 69 lamps).

We love to spot signs with weird illustrations. You may have read our “No pole dancing on Swedish trains” and “Pole sitting on Danish roads” but this sign got us wondering. We have figured out the female part, but what’s with the huge person next to her? We are guessing:

• A person with a broken leg on a hospital bed?
• A motorcycle rider frozen solid, lying on a bed?
• Man size diaper change?

What happens when a copycat has bad taste? You end up with a bad replica in a sick color! We spottet this freaky color on the Australian webshop Matt Blatt… not that we want to promote them in any way. The laws may be different in Australia – but to us – copying a design is stealing, no matter where you live on the planet, and Matt Blatt have stolen Simon Karkovs design.

Shame on you!

Click below to see the copycat version… but don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Toxic green or cheap red… hmmm

You pay extra for the  fake version!

The copycat version is priced at $125 Australian dollars – which is roughly 93 euro. You can buy the original Norm 69 lamp for 90 euro! so you are actually charged extra for a pour quality ugly copy.

Learn more about the original Norm 69 lamp designed by Simon Karkov in 1969 on our homepage www.normann-copenhagen.com/norm69

You probably know the problem. You arrive at a building  - and don’t know which door to use!

In this case someone really did a great job with a brilliant solution. By combining the door handle with a red or green dot you easily understand which door to use… but what started simple ended up being very complex…

Right next to the “Red/Green” doors we spotted a similar door handle, but this time with the danish word “Træk” which means Pull.

Next door is a combo of the first and the second door handle. A Green dot with the word “Træk” written on it. We decode this to mean “Yes you may use this door – and you should push to open“

Last door – and the logic is long gone. A red dot with the word “Træk”… so you shouldn’t use the door – but if you do, you should pull!?!

What started with a simple design which was easy to understand for everyone, ended up being everything but simple.

We spotted these doors at the entrance hall at Kildeshovshallen swimming pool just outside Copenhagen. The complex was build between 1966 and 1972.

Click below to enter the Design Champer of Horrors.

Interesting interpretation of the Swing vase spotted in the Czech Republic.

A chinese upside-down copy “inspired” by the Norm 06 lamp designed by Simon Karkov. Urf!

The original (red) strainer is designed by Boje Estermann and was introduced by Normann Copenhagen in august 2005. The other version is a copy made by the company Sagaform – we found the pictures in their 2009 catalogue.

More freaky stuff – head for our WE HATE category.

We are pretty sure that Sagaforms lawyer would argue that their version has no visual or funktional comparison to our Strainer… we will let you be the judge of that.

… and yes, our original strainer also comes in green. More info on our homepage.

Related blogposts:
Respect to Fritz – Fritz Hansens fight against copies of their furnitures 
Fake Y-chair – We feel the pain 
Zone Denmark – Do you need help 

A couple of weeks ago we spotted a few odd signs in Stockholm (No pole-dancing in Swedish trains!)). But it seems that we Danes are just as bad. The text above the sign reads “Green wave”. Sorry, but that doesn’t help us much when all we see is a person with one leg shorter than the other sitting on a very thin pole. Do you have a different interpretation of the sign, please let us know.
Spotted outside our store in Copenhagen.

We just spotted this cool fight the copies campaign from Fritz Hansen furniture.

We spotted this pictogram on a train in Stockholm last night. But what does it try to communicate? Does it have something to do with dancing…in the rain or maybe that you are not allowed to stand on one foot when waving to your friends… we don’t know. 

Making pictograms is probably one of the most difficult graphic design assignments one can get – so we really respect the designers (like Ole Søndergaard) that master the art… but something went very wrong in Stockholm. Please help interpret the next couple of examples. 

Our suggestions are: 1. A strange new moon cart. 2. You are allowed to use a fitness ball on the train. 3. Bike with one small and one large seat. 4. Something with Marilyn Monroe. 5. Don´t smoke cigarets in the wrong end!