lemon and olive oil locally,
and he also incorporates
foreign flavours found nearby,
such as sumac (a traditional
Mediterranean and Middle
Eastern ingredient), in tandem
with practices like fermenting
vegetable peels into flavour-
rich miso paste.
Rosio Sanchez, a former
pastry chef at Noma, has
made a name for herself by
celebrating her Mexican
heritage. Three years ago, the
Chicago native launched her
first solo project, the casual
taqueria Hija de Sanchez,
which filled a gastronomic
void that she and other expats
had been feeling. It quickly
became a destination in the
city. Last winter, she debuted
her sophisticated cantina,
Sanchez, to high acclaim.
Both spots, like so many new
restaurants in town, represent
a significant departure from
the New Nordic cooking that
has become Copenhagen’s
hallmark, signalling a new
openness to more global
culinary approaches and
expanding the very idea of what
Scandinavian cooking can be.
Building on the Past
By Simon Willis
For many, the phrase ‘Danish
design’ conjures the elegant
functionality and earthy
minimalism of the country’s
mid-century furniture. But the
postwar aesthetic of bare-wood
tables and boxy sideboards has
become so ubiquitous that
designers at the source are now
striving to reinterpret it—often
by re-energising Copenhagen’s
historic interiors.
One burgeoning trend in this
space is a bold internationalism
easily felt in some new hotels,
including Sanders, a boutique
property housed in a 19th-century
structure that once served as the bohemian
haunt Hotel Opera. In 2015, Alexander Kølpin,
a former star at the Royal Danish Ballet and a
one-time Opera regular, bought the space and
tasked British architect Richy Almond and his
Danish business partner, Pernille Lind, with
creating an eclectic interior. For the bar, the duo
chose tasselled velvet curtains evocative of
operatic Parisian décor; in the lounge, floral-
print fabrics for chairs and sofas that suggest an
eccentric English style; and on the roof terrace,
bamboo armchairs that bring in a touch of old
Peking. Even the most Danish elements—the
beds and sideboards in the guestrooms—
reference an overlooked aspect of Mid-century
Modernism: the influence of the East on such
designers as Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen.
Just as Wegner riffed on Ming-dynasty design
in his Wishbone chair and Jacobsen channelled
colonial bamboo furniture in his early Paris
chair, so Lind and Almond have inlaid simple
pale-wood furniture with rattan.
Nimb, a hotel in Tivoli Gardens that
began as a Moorish-inspired bazaar,
also weaves in Asian elements. Last fall,
when the property debuted 21 new rooms,
designers echoed the Chinese-style pavilions
that guests can spy from their balconies.
Guestrooms incorporate Chinese ceramics
and black sliding doors reminiscent of
old lacquerwork.
Hotel Herman K—built in a disused
1960s power station—typifies another
current approach, in which the organic
forms we associate with Danish design
offset the Brutalism of industrial structures.
A triple-height lobby of concrete walls and
towering iron doors might feel forbidding
without the sinuous Wegner chairs and vases
of dried wildflowers on the wooden tables
of the restaurant off to one side. In the guest
quarters, white cotton curtains drape
concrete walls and upholstered hooded
headboards, imbuing the spaces with
a calmness they’d otherwise lack. You leave
the power station at the door.A Stroll Through Scandi Style
By Eviana HartmanPeople who’ve never been to Copenhagen
tend to imagine its style in extremes: cosy
comfort (aka hygge) or chic minimalism. But
a casual walk along the city’s cobblestoned
streets tells a more nuanced story. There’snothing quaint or austere
about the way Danes dress.
And amid a general resurgence
of Scandinavian cool in
popular culture, Copenhagen
has emerged as a genuine style
hub, drawing a growing
international crew
of editors, buyers, and street-
style photographers to its
fashion weeks in August and
late January. Colour pops up
everywhere, and the dominant
sensibility is a cross between
romantic whimsy and
streetwise cool—always
with sensitivity to detail
and proportion.
As Pernille Teisbæk,
the city’s most visible fashion
influencer and the author of
Dress Scandinavian, describes
it, the classic Danish style is
“a playful mix of materials.”
Perhaps no brand better
epitomises this look than
women’s wear label Ganni,
the Copenhagen fashion
industry’s biggest recent
success story, whose signature
mash-up—silky, flouncy
florals layered with nubby
knitwear and graphic
sweatshirts—has amassed
a following of #gannigirls on
Instagram. Ganni’s statement
pieces can be procured from
big-name retailers online, but
the Copenhagen flagship
corrals everything into one
sleek, golden-panelled space
in the heart of the Indre
By neighbourhood.
This district concentrates
a plethora of shopping options in
what was once a medieval walled
city, making for a destination
that’s supremely walkable and
just a bike ride away from most
other attractions. Here, you’ll
find that Copenhagen residents
have nailed the concept of
elevated kicks, perhaps because
their feet serve such a crucial
role in transportation. Collectors
are spoiled for choice: there’stravelandleisureindia.in