Copenhagen Feeling


I arrived this morning in Copenhagen, after not being here for quite a while. As soon as I stepped through the plane door the smell of CPH was there. If only I could bottle that first smell, grasp it and hold onto that feeling, its crispness and warmth at the same time.

I have forgotten how important it is for me to feel connected to this place as the soul of our business, I had forgotten how much I consciously and sub consciously grab onto it and bring back with me every time I come here.

I stay at Hotel Guldsmeden. Ironically it has not a single piece of Danish furniture in it, yet I feel it is the warmest, coziest place I can stay when I am here. Maybe it is because my wife Emma found it and we both stayed here together first. It was when she was pregnant with our daughter Persia, perhaps this is part of the reason I feel so good here. I feel they are both with me in some way.

Breakfast.
I am jetlagged, but there is little point in sleeping, as it is 7pm at home, I try to stay awake for the day if I can. Breakfast; the almonds covered in honey, yoghurt and muesli, the fresh breads, dark rye, light rye, pumpernickel, white crusty, stewed blueberries, bad coffee!, wonderful pastries, smelly cheeses, all make up a breakfast. I sit and look out the window and feel very much at home, a young family sits near me with a baby and it feels right. This place is such a wonderful mix of old world values.

Looking out the window, surrounded by all this history and a really lovely warm sense of belonging, I feel at home. I look forward to my stroll down the walking streets, as I watch the city come alive on a Sunday morning. It is cold but clear, the city is a really beautiful place at this time of year, I will head straight for Illums to get my fix of a ‘klassic’ department store, I can only compare it to a combination of ‘Are You Being Served’ and Georges (Melb), It stands next to Georg Jensen and in front of a beautiful fountain, and on Sunday it will become full of tourists and families exploring the shops and sitting on benches and soaking up the sun, while enjoying a good Danish hotdog!

I guess I feel as if this is what I am trying to bring to our showrooms, I want our customers, to come in and feel at home, to experience all their senses being tickled, to gain some sense of what I feel when I am in Denmark.

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