Denmark is renowned for its outstanding designs. Most people have encountered Danish Design at some time or other, whether it’s Erik Magnussen’s Stelton thermos flask, Arne Jacobsen’s Ant Chair or Hans J. Wegner’s The Chair. Design lovers will revel in a visit to Denmark. Bredgade, Copenhagen – the design street par excellence – would be one good place to begin your tour. You will find the Danish Museum of Art & Design at number 68. The “Utopia and Reality” section of the museum is well worth seeing, with its realisation of 20th-century Danish furniture design. The exhibition is based on the museum’s own collection, the largest in Denmark. You will follow the history of design from the avant-garde dream of a new and better world in the early 1900s, through to Børge Mogensen’s 1940s functionalist furniture for the people and on to the organic wave of the 1990s. Some rooms are dedicated to heavyweights such as Kaare Klint, Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen and Verner Panton.

Royal Copenhagen has become almost synonymous with Danish Design. The porcelain factory, which dates from 1775, has a visitor centre at Søndre Fasanvej 9, Frederiksberg; please note that this will be relocating to Amagertorv in the autumn, though. Here, you can enjoy some history and take a look back at evergreens of porcelain such as the exclusive Flora Danica or the popular Blue Fluted dinner service, ever in demand.

The Danish Design Centre - housed in world-famous architect Henning Larsen’s high-tech building just opposite Tivoli – puts on a variety of special exhibitions. The basement passage has been transformed into a veritable treasure-trove of fantastic Danish and international designs including the Vipp waste bin, Lego bricks and B&O hi-fi. Posing here, too, is the world’s first chair to be made from a single piece of plastic, by Verner Panton – the enfant terrible of Danish design.

If you go to Tivoli, be sure to have a look at Poul Henningsen’s garden lanterns. As one of the pioneers of Danish functionalism, PH gave form to the light and its practical, yet eminently elegant lampshade system. The nearly 2000 lanterns illuminate the amusement park at different points around the lake. The spiral-shaped shades are reminiscent of spinning-tops and the lamps were originally fitted with little motors so they could turn round.

PH’s familiar classics are suspended by and inside the Divan 2 restaurant. On your tour, it is also recommend taking in the lighting firm Louis Poulsen’s Showroom, which presents PH together with other Danish lamp makers on 700 m2 in pleasant Gammel Strand.

There are magnificent panoramic views of Copenhagen from the Alberto K restaurant at the top of the legendary Radisson Royal Hotel – the world’s first designer hotel. Arne Jacobsen designed every aspect of the hotel’s interior and exterior in 1960. Only room 606 remains exactly as it was. In the lobby, however, you can still sink into the Egg chair, specially designed, like the Swan chair, for the Royal Hotel.

As a concept “Danish Design” has come to the fore in few years. More and more Danish fashion designers have made a name for themselves both within and beyond the country’s borders. Instead of chasing the trends in the fashion meccas of Paris, London or Milan, a new generation of garment creators is cultivating national hallmarks and evolving a distinctive Nordic style.

Clothes-shopping represents just one of the many opportunities in Copenhagen. Here it would be impossible not to run into famous Danish designs such as Bang & Olufsen, LEGO, Fritz Hansen Furniture and the award-winning titanium eyewear from Lindberg Optic – one of the biggest success stories in Danish Design in recent times. Also deserving mention here would be the royal Danish porcelain and Danish silver, best represented by Royal Copenhagen and Georg Jensen.

New architecture and design happily go hand in hand with other cultural sights. In just the last decade the impressive achievements of the architect Henning Larsen have found their expression in buildings such as the extension to the New Carlsberg Glyptotek and Denmark’s new opera house. But also the extension to the Royal Danish Library, also named “The Black Diamond", is really a visit worth if you are interesting in modern architecture. The same is The Royal Danish Playhouse on Kvæsthusbroen.

The biggest changes in Copenhagen over the last few years have occurred on West Amager, where a new city area of 310 hectares, named "Ørestad", is being built. When the new city is finished about 20.000 people are going to live here. Two of the world's greatest architects, Jean Nouvel and Daniel Liebeskind, have been involved in the project. Jean Nouvel have designed Copenhagen's new Concert Hall, which are placed in the area, and Libeskind have created the master plan for the part of Ørestad around Scandinavia's biggest shopping center Fields.

Danish Architecture Centre (www.dac.dk)
Copenhagen X (www.cphx.dk)
Copenhagen X facilitates and disseminates information on urban development, building projects, architectural visions and innovation in the Danish capital to local residents, visitors and professionals.