Dezeen Magazine

Kinfolk magazine launches Copenhagen gallery with exhibition of European design

Lifestyle magazine Kinfolk has launched its own gallery space in Copenhagen with an exhibition of rainbow-coloured room dividers, computer-generated chairs and a striped Memphis-style bench (+ slideshow).

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Kinfolk magazine's Reform exhibition showcased projects by European designers, including a room divider made of hand-dyed hanging yarn by Cillevengberg

Designers from across Europe contributed 15 pieces to the Reform Design Biennale, which focused on challenging tradition and uncovering new processes.

The Kinfolk gallery opened on 4 June in the Danish capital, where the magazine is now based. The gallery builds on the magazine's increasing presence as an influential force in the world of design

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Copenhagen architect Kevin Hviid also contributed a multi-coloured bench inspired by the Memphis Group

Furniture at the Reform Design Biennale included Danish duo Krøyer-Sætter-Lassen's reinterpretation of a blacksmith's stool, which was shown alongside a beech wood and brass hammer designed by the pair, and Rasmus Warberg's wooden and steel Mido sideboard.

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Eddie Olin's set of digital chairs were shown in the gallery as prints

Copenhagen architect Kevin Hviid – who previously designed a chair shaped like a giant bow tie – contributed a multicoloured bench made from tubes of iron and brass and inspired by the colours and graphic shapes of the Memphis Group.

Fellow Copenhagen designer Camilla Monsrud also created furniture for the exhibition, showing a trio of purposefully irregular stools crafted in partnership with Parkinson's sufferers.

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Camilla Monsrud also created furniture for the exhibition, showing a trio of purposefully irregular stools

Meanwhile, Eddie Olin took a less literal approach, designing a set of digital chairs, which were shown in the gallery as prints.

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Johnasen Faurschou exhibited angular lamps

Lighting highlights from the show were shard-like lamps created by Johnasen Faurschou, geometric limestone lighting designed by Jakob Friis Ingemansson and shaped in a French fountain, and cylindrical concrete floor lamps created by Mathias Weber.

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Mathias Weber showcased a set of cylindrical concrete floor lamps

Design studio Cillevenberg contributed a room divider made of hand-dyed hanging yarn, while Anna Aagaard created a conceptual brass and leather breathing apparatus that would rely on plants to cleanse the air.

The show was curated by Trapholt Museum CEO Karen Grøn, RUM editor Mette Barfod and furniture brand Brdr. Krüger's Jonas Krüger.

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Anna Aagaard created a conceptual brass and leather breathing apparatus, that would rely on plants to cleanse the air

The Reform Design Biennale was set up in 2014 and founded by designers Maria Bruun, Jens Dan Johansen and Rasmus Bækkel Fex as a chance for craftsmen, artists and fellow designers to challenge thinking by experimenting with new processes and technology.

"Reform is an opportunity to rewind in a business with a lot of fast forward," said textile designer Margrethe Odgaard, who designed a coloured acrylic glass window frame for the exhibition.

REForm Design Biennale 2016 at Kinfolk Gallery
Designers from across Europe contributed 15 pieces to the Reform Design Biennale

"Any given object with a story can be reformed, and any given time needs reforms," she added. "It is important to question the things that surround us and ask ourselves if we can do different and better."

The Reform exhibition ran from 9 to 27 June. The Kinfolk Gallery is at Amagertorv 14, 1st floor
1160 Copenhagen K.