The second edition of design exhibition Other Circle in Copenhagen showcased pieces by a wide variety of brands and designers, ranging from Claude AI to emerging Norwegian talents and buzzy smaller studios.

Like last year, Other Circle took over the gigantic The Lab location, which comprises multiple venues outside of Copenhagen's city centre. Here, it showed work from exhibitors across a range of different disciplines.

According to Svend Jacob Pedersen, who co-founded Other Circle alongside Silas Adler, this was because the show aims to take a wider approach to creative culture than other design events.

"If you go to most design studios' bios on their website, they will describe themselves as being 'multi-disciplinary', even if they only make lamps," he told Dezeen. "This is interesting to us and we see it as a desire to work across – and seek inspiration in – the creative culture as a whole."

"In the curatorial process, Silas and I speak a lot about energy – how does the energy of the original idea translate all the way through the finished object being exhibited?" Pedersen continued.

"For us, this is best illustrated in the dynamics of not only core design, but music, food, art, fashion and other creative disciplines."

On the ground floor of Other Circle's main venue, Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot, one of the event's sponsors, was among the featured exhibitors.

The company collaborated with Other Circle to create an installation featuring large inflatable fruits, combined with digital projections.

Nearby, Danish furniture brand Muuto showed The Library, a soothing space in one of its signature pastel colours – a pale yellow hue – designed to celebrate the brand's 20th anniversary.

Here, Muuto showcased new products among books that visitors could read on one of the space's massive curved sofas, placed under sheer curtains and surrounding a central shelving system.

Nearby, Italian brand NM3 presented its signature stainless-steel furniture next to the community-driven Wasted initiative by Bali hotel Potato Head.

This part of Other Circle was also where you could find Pedersen's personal favourite, Ghanaian artist Paa Joe's coffin shaped like a KitKat chocolate bar with a giant USB port on one side.

"I am extremely excited to have Paa Joe here as an exhibitor," Pedersen said.

"The dialogue has been truly inspirational, and the Kit Kat-USB-Coffin represents a completely different perspective of design to the majority of exhibited objects at design weeks in general."

On the second floor of the main building, exhibition platform Volum displayed works by contemporary Norwegian designers, including Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng and Jonas Selvikvåg.

Here, visitors could also enjoy the Honeymoon Suite by Danish studio Spacon, which featured a bed swathed in pink satin and the Close to Heart aluminium chairs the studio designed for Muuto.

Alongside Claude, the event this year was also sponsored by car manufacturer BMW. The brand showed a collaboration with artist Esther Nostokana Nagiyana Nikwambi Mahlangu, prompting some visitors to comment on the influence of large brands on the design event.

But Pedersen isn't worried about Copenhagen going the way of Milan, where the influence of mega-brands has become a hot topic.

"I understand the concern, but we really see the interest of bigger brands as an opportunity to create exhibitions at another level, and as curators take our responsibility seriously to create installations which are inspirational and relevant to a design audience," he said.

The BMW was on display in Other Circle's second venue, which also showed designer Cristina Román Díaz's sculptural steel-and-concrete furniture and Tokyo-based Nao Iwamatsu's minimalist, stackable wooden stools.

Visitors could also admire creative studio Sucuk und Bratwurst's playful pieces, made with porcelain factory KPM Berlin, which resemble kettlebells – but were actually teapots.

As well as the exhibitions, Other Circle also hosted film screenings, designer talks and workshops, with a courtyard bar and a bakery providing sustenance for visitors.

Since it was launched last year, the event has taken place concurrently but outside of the official schedule of Copenhagen's longstanding 3 Days of Design festival. But Pedersen said he hopes that Other Circle can eventually become part of the main festival.

"Ever since we got the idea of creating Other Circle, we imagined being part of the 3 Days of Design programme, and we still do," he said.

"However, our curatorial structure is not immediately compatible with the 3Days of Design structure, and while we are still in respectful dialogue to find common ground, we mutually decided for Other Circle to remain autonomous for our second year," he continued.

"We are super excited to see how 3 Days keeps growing every year, and that we are able to grow in parallel and together improve the quality of the total experience for exhibitors and visitors."

Exhibitions that took place on as part of 3 Days of Design this year included the emerging designer show Ukurant and the Bread and Butter exhibition, which this year explored bathing culture.

The photography is by The Lab.