Danish Delights

I’ve never been to Denmark so it was great to have the opportunity just this April to visit the country and meet up with some of my amazing stockists. I had excellent travelling companions in the guise of Cal Dagul and Jane Warnick – both of whom work with me, looking after stockists.

Karin’s Smukt & Brugt 

Open sandwich Danish-style

Denmark may not have the dramatic, eye-catching landscapes of Sweden (which I also visited for the first time this year) but is does have an amazing ‘other-world’ feel, underpinned by the sheer warmth of the people I met, and the fabulously crafted and designed boutiques and interiors I saw.

Simply stunning

I wasn’t prepared for just how pretty flat the simple, slightly windswept farm land is – much of it no more than 30 metres above sea level. In fact when Adriana Saenz (my Distributor for Denmark and owner of Cinteriors.dk) and her husband Lars told me the highest point in Denmark is 150 metres above sea level, I couldn’t believe it. So when I got back I checked: it wasn’t true!! The highest point is… 170 metres above sea level (!) – so we’re still talking hills here not mountains.

What really piqued (peaked?) my interest was the incredible décor stores my stockists ran – I know I’m prone to over-enthusiasm, but these were achingly gorgeous. I only visited 3 stockists' stores – although I met a lot more of my stockists via the workshops I did there – but each one I visited has created their own beautiful boutique concept.

Stockists’ surprises

My first port of call after Adriana's shop, was Karin’s superb showcase old farm Smukt & Brugt in Aulum, Jutland, in the North. It’s a fabulous place where her grandfather once worked, and Karin now lives. She has adapted the old buildings to showcase her collection of vintage goodies (below).

 

 

It’s a complete fantasy romance: every room is set designed so beautifully and often colour themed– you feel like you are walking onto a stage set; it was pure theatre.

Check out the ‘the boys room’ (above) for example, seemingly all vintage, but cleverly mixed with new items. And everything you see is for sale. Karin herself is warm and charismatic and offers her home-made cakes and coffee when you go there.

Next, it was off to an all-too-quick visit to Hønsehuset near Ølby run by a very creative couple Jette and Peter. I love this picture of them together (below left).

  

Hønsehuset means hen-house but they have made this coop into a wonderfully designed décor store in the middle of nowhere. Just look at this amazing ceiling which is around the side of the building in an incredible old barn –the exposed birch bark logs (above) look fantastic. Peter sells wonderful wines as well as balsamic vinegars and oils inside. 

The yellow in this interior (above left) is a colour you see a lot in Danish interiors and a browny-red too seem to be the old traditional colour too.

My final stop-off was Casa & Co in another completely different décor concept – a horseshoe shaped old farm, one side for clothes and food and the other side for furniture and paint. 

Morgan and Thomas’s Casa & Co (above) fabulous and very inspirational colour board in their shop. 



I did a workshop here for stockists. My stockists Morgan  (on my left) and Thomas have made Casa & Co very stylish.

Scrumptuous Smørrebrøds

And finally I must mention the food, which was essentially non-stop open Danish sandwiches – called Smørrebrød – which I think are best thing ever! Among my favourites were rye bread topped with crushed crispy roast pork fat (to replace butter, below) and the smoked cheese on radishes and chives (top of this post), but I also sampled roast beef, grated horseradish and crispy fried onion (below left) rollmop smoked herrings, capers (below right) as well as other combinations of commonplace Danish ingredients. These open sandwich were from the Casa & Co store but are everywhere. Seems there are rules about what goes where and when and it’s all placed according to a tradition. Yummy.

Tak og Skål Denmark!

Yours, Annie