At the Bread and Butter exhibition in Copenhagen, 12 emerging global designers showcased pairs of objects designed for dining during 3 Days of Design.
The designers, who came from Denmark as well as South Korea, Sweden and the Netherlands, were chosen by curators Hee Choi of Berlin-based studio Ae Office and designer Pyeori Jung.
Choi and Jung asked the contributors to focus on what the perfect pairing accessory could be for a dining table, after they were inspired by the event venue – Korean restaurant Ouri.
“We were figuring out what space we were gonna get here [in Copenhagen],” Jung told Dezeen.
“At the end of the day, we got this space from a Korean restaurant to make a pop-up design exhibition, and we were thinking about what could be the perfect fit for this restaurant,” he continued.
“We were thinking about different dishes and Hee came up with this idea of bread and butter, which is not just about the dish – it’s about the perfect pair, the perfect match.”
The resulting exhibition features pieces including a raspberry-coloured tray and wineholder by the Netherlands’ Forever Studio and a bread bin and bread board by Seoul and Rotterdam-based EO Studio, as well as modular seats by South Korean designer Kim Ki Hyun.
The pieces all fit within the same colour scale, the result of the curators’ brief.
“We asked the designers to create something new for the show and our brief was quite simple: to make your perfect pair for a dining table, but within the color range of bread and butter, from the white butter colour to the deep browns,” Choi said.
Her Ae Office contributed three pieces – a fruit bowl, a candleholder and a mini vase, all in soft buttery yellow hues.
Others created designs that couldn’t exist without their pairing, including designer Hun Lee‘s balancing cups that are held in place by their saucer, which the curators singled out as one of their favourites.
“The complementary design is about the perfect pairing; one helps each out the other, so it becomes one object,” Jung explained.
The reason for showing in Copenhagen was that the curators felt that the 3 Days of Design festival is more approachable than showing in Milan, and less known in the Netherlands where they are both based.
“We wanted to go to Copenhagen; we didn’t know why everyone was talking about it, but Milan seems a bit too much and everyone is going there,” Jung said.
“In the Netherlands, especially, there were not that many people going to Copenhagen – it was more like an exploration, very mysterious.”
The Bread and Butter exhibition also featured stackable boxes for sharing food by Danish designer Anna Søgaard, while designers Laura Bilde, Laerke Ryom and Krøyer Sætter Lassen all worked in metal.
Ryom’s easily-stored Ripple bowls, which slot into each other, were made from cast aluminium and Bilde’s decorative ice cream bowls from stainless steel. Design duo Krøyer Sætter Lassen used extruded aluminium for its Darwin Vase, which was shaped to support the flowers it holds.
Danish designer Maria Bruun contributed a mouth-blown glass carafe with a drinking cup, both set on an oversized round coaster.
Designer Kunsik‘s Void Trays were designed as a mirrored pair and made from mahogany and beech wood , while Munich-based Thought Progress made its matching fruit bowls and vases from chipboard, water-soaked paper and food-safe resin.
Choi and Jung hope that the Bread and Butter exhibition will be the first of many themed travelling exhibitions, and foresee it taking place in Seoul next time.
“We want to expand our exhibition the next round,” Choi said. “Hopefully we’ll get some support from Korean companies, and we already spoke to the Danish Embassy and want to bring some Danish designers to Seoul.”
“Next time we could do the exhibition in a hair salon or book store, or maybe a library,” the curators concluded.
Also on show in Copenhagen this year is a series of furry mycelium chairs and a portable table lamp by Lee Broom informed by 1970s glass blocks.
The photography is courtesy of Bread and Butter.
Bread and Butter is on display at Ouri from 18 to 20 June 2025 as part 3 Days of Design. See Dezeen Events Guide for more events taking place in the Danish capital and elsewhere around the world.
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