Royal Copenhagen has just received Bo Bedre’s coveted “Design of the Year” prize for the ground-breaking Elements service, created by the front runner in a new generation of Danish designers, Louise Campbell.
At an exclusive event at Lauritz Kunsthal, Royal Copenhagen received the Design of the Year prize, which is awarded by Denmark’s oldest and most strongly trendsetting lifestyle magazine, Bo Bedre.
The Design of the Year prize is awarded each year for “a product for the home that embodies new thinking with regard to furnishing the homes of the future”, and it was a unanimous jury that nominated the new Elements service as the winning Design of the Year 2008. The jury consisted of Bodil Busk Laursen, director of the Museum of Decorative Art in Copenhagen, Mads Arlien-Søborg, development manager at the Designskolen Kolding, Maja Boisen, development manager of Illums Bolighus, and Charlotte Ravnholt, co-editor of Bo Bedre.
Embracing history
It is the first time this century that Royal Copenhagen has launched a new service for which all the items were completely newly developed. In Elements, Louise Campbell has challenged all the traditions, confronting the heritage of centuries with the lifestyle of the new millennium. The new service incorporates elements from Royal Copenhagen’s most richly traditional services over three centuries: the Blue Fluted, Flora Danica and Half Lace. A daring new colour scheme in bright orange, turquoise, green and red signals that this is an innovative breakthrough in style, emanating new modern thinking and vitality.
“It is breathtaking to see how Louise Campbell and Royal Copenhagen have succeeded in combining several hundred years of history with modern functionalism in a form that is so rich in tradition, and yet breaks new ground at the same time. Bo Bedre’s prize is recognition that we have succeeded in our aim to create a great new classic, so I was very delighted and proud to receive the prize on behalf of Royal Copenhagen and Louise Campbell,” says Niels Bastrup, Royal Copenhagen’s Creative Director.
“Being charged with updating Royal Copenhagen’s heritage was one of the biggest assignments our design studio has ever handled. It took several years of cogitation, detailed research in the enormous archives and a very close dialogue with Royal Copenhagen. It was sheer delight and a colossal challenge,” Louise Campbell admits.
Elements includes everything from cups and plates in various sizes and shapes to jugs and square serving tiles that are suitable for sushi, tapas and desserts, as well as salad bowls and dishes. Besides plain white, each item is available in its own individual colour.
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About Royal Copenhagen A/S
Royal Copenhagen, officially the Royal Porcelain Factory (in Danish: Den Kongelige Porcelainsfabrik), was founded in Copenhagen in 1775 under the protection of Queen Juliane Marie and has been recognised ever since by its factory mark, the three wavy lines above each other, which symbolises the three straits that back then divided Denmark: Øresund, Store Bælt and Lille Bælt.
Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl are trademarks of Royal Copenhagen A/S.