COPENHAGEN
On a recent trip to Denmark, Seymourpowell design researches Jenna Singleton and Josh Wasserman had the great pleasure of experiencing the best of Copenhagen city living. Jenna and Josh were in town conducting ethnography interviews with ‘technology style leaders’ who, being generally hip and trendy, gave them some great tips of what to check out. Here’s what they found…
Manfreds
Eating early on our first night we were lucky enough to get a table in Manfreds. This is Copenhagen’s take on modern dining without the frills. Sitting at rustic wooden tables with the simplest of tableware, our friendly servers in beautiful leather aprons explained there wasn’t a menu as such – dishes are simply prepared and brought out by the chefs themselves, who briefly explain it before you all tuck in sharing the one plate.
Chef Christian F. Puglisi — who has worked the kitchens of some of the most enviable restaurants in the world including Noma and El Bulli – offers up a food concept reflecting a trend we are seeing more and more. Limited choice, well sourced ingredients prepared simply but with great attention to mixing unusual flavours. My favourite was cauliflower in almond buttermilk. Manfreds is also focusing on promoting a new generation of wine makers and a complementing glass of wine was served with each course – complete with life history of the maker.
Illutron
Along the way we came to hear about Illutron, and we couldn’t head home without going for a look. It was kindly arranged for us to meet Max so we took a cab to a lonely harbourside not knowing what to expect.
Illutron is a north sea cable laying barge that was purchased a few years back for its scrap value and transformed into an interactive art studio. On board are two workshops – one for more traditional wood and metal work, and an electronics workshop. Illutron is open to anyone who wants to use the space to work on projects at the interface between art and technology and it attracts artists, geeks and ‘hackers’ from all over the world. They get involved making pieces for a mix of festivals and events – making things as varied as working Tesla coils or Gas Cannons, as well as undertaking commissions to look at a certain piece of tech. For example, one group explored the potential of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia phones to see how it could be remixed, hacked and customised.
The Illutron space itself reflected the various ways the members used the otherwise defunct barge – there is a bar, BBQ and DJ space for the many parties that take place and the members have cabins to rest in after a hard night’s programming or welding.
Big thanks to Max for showing us around, and Vanessa and Diesel of Geekphysical for introducing us.
Seymourpowell’s team regularly conduct cross-cultural city visits to help our clients understand regional preferences, diversity and to identify common global preferences. For more information contact the Seymourpowell PR Team.
