During the course of the last 20 years, the design sector has evolved from the sphere of handicrafts to become a service industry of critical relevance to the competitive position of a country or a company.

The main challenge facing the sector in recent times has been maintaining those special qualities which have secured Danish design a unique global position while simultaneously developing greater professionalism in order to exploit new commercial potentials.

Taking Danish design as a whole, three distinct streams and three special competencies are evident. The first stream is characterised by an artistic ethos and aesthetic of the highest international calibre; the second by an ability to use design to commercial success and thereby create jobs and export earnings; the third by design as a knowledge-heavy service.

Danish design is best known for the first characteristic – design as artistic masterpiece. There is no other field in which Denmark commands such a strong position relative to other countries than design, and furniture design in particular.
      New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which collects nothing but the very finest art and design objects that the world can offer, does not have a single Danish painting on its walls. However, the renowned collection does include a whole range of Danish-designed furniture and art objects. No other country outside of the USA is so strongly represented as Denmark. That, in itself, speaks volumes of Denmark’s pole position.

Among the designers who have planted Denmark so firmly on the design map are Børge Mogensen, Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm, Poul Henningsen and Verner Panton. These designers’ works are known throughout the world and are much in demand today, commanding high prices at the luxury end of the market. Their designs created the foundations for a solid Danish export success. Companies such as the furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansen and Louis Poulsen, the lighting company, derive a substantial portion of their incomes from works by the design pioneers.

The rich heritage of Danish arts and crafts companies belongs to the same tradition. Most prominent among these are Georg Jensen and Royal Copenhagen which have restyled themselves as exclusive luxury brands and now have strings of boutiques in the world’s most upmarket shopping promenades. Moving with the times, these companies have begun to commission new silver and porcelain designs from some of the world’s hottest designers.

Another trend is where newer companies take the Danish design and crafts tradition as a starting reference but add new elements and twists to create products for a broader market. Among these are Bodum, famed for its cafetières and teapots; Gubi, the extremely innovative maker of the Gubi chair; Rosendahl, whose contemporary glass and kitchenware has a special resonance in Denmark; and Skagen watches, keeping time across the planet. The fashion scene hosts another bundle of names that have made an international breakthrough – Day Birger et Mikkelsen, Munthe + Simonsen and Bruuns Bazaar.

Architecture is another arena where Denmark’s design excellence is outstanding. Jørn Utzen, designer of the iconic Sydney Opera House, is the best known outside Denmark. Among the many accolades he has received is the Pritzker Prize, which is often regarded as the Nobel Prize for architecture. Arne Jacobsen, Henning Larsen and Johan Otto von Spreckelsen (the latter famed for the Grande Arche at La Defense in Paris) all have a wide circle of admirers the world over. And several Danish architectural firms, including that of Henning Larsen, are active and in demand internationally.

While these world famous architects and designers, the classic design firms such as Georg Jensen and the newer companies such as Bodum have all contributed to Denmark’s reputation as one of the world’s leading design nations, there is also a corps of more commercially-orientated companies that have created very successful businesses on the basis of Danish design abilities.

These companies, which form the second main stream in Danish design, are mainly found in the fashion business, a trade whose annual exports exceed DKK 15 billion or 4.2 per cent of total Danish manufacturing exports. This makes Denmark the ninth biggest clothing exporter in the OECD, an impressive position given the small size of the country.

Three companies in this category have met with particular export success – Bestseller, IC Companys and Brandtex, all of which can boast billion-kroner exports and strong margins. These companies have positioned themselves to deliver good design at a competitive price, the equivalent, in many respects, of what Ikea has achieved in the furniture business.
      By combining design quality – a decisive competitive parameter in the fashion business – with a production apparatus that can manufacture at competitive prices, these companies have proved the potential in delivering good design to a wide audience.

This combination of clear strategic focus, business professionalism and design understanding has delivered good results in other sectors too. Denmark has taken a leading role in the innovative design of electronics, most notably with Bang & Olufsen. And GN Store Nord, which created the designer brand Jabra in co-operation with Jakob Jensen, has shown that good design can be a competitive advantage in the market for wireless headsets.

It can hardly be questioned that this special blend, where design and a deep understanding of consumer needs is combined to create products that distinguish themselves from rivals in shape, style and image, is one of the areas which can give Danish companies a unique competitive advantage in the years to come.

The third stream in the Danish design sector consists of the service companies, i.e. business to business companies that provide design advice to other companies. Such companies play a significant role in the Danish design sector and the largest of these firms are now global providers of advice on design and branding.
      At the more technical end of the market, you’ll find Cowi, a very successful company that is one of the world’s leading in bridge construction among other things. At the more aesthetic and market-oriented end you’ll find Kontrapunkt, Denmark’s largest design consultancy and the winner of the Danish design prize almost continually since 1994. From its base in Copenhagen, Kontrapunkt helps blue-chip companies worldwide including Microsoft in the USA, DNP in Japan and Carlsberg in Denmark, build up strong brands.

The three streams within Danish design – the craft tradition, the strongly commercial and the advisory frequently overlap and some companies have a foot in more than one camp. But the most important element is the vibrant cross-fertilisation between these companies that, in the final analysis, helps retain Denmark’s position as one of the world’s leading design nations.

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