3 Days of Design 2026

3 Days of Design in Copenhagen is growing both in scale and significance. It is clear that they have moved from a niche design event to a full scale design carnival with international brands and audience. But does it level up to a global event? Here is my report.

At the time of writing, the organisers have not released official exhibitor numbers. Curiosity got the better of me, so I did what any design journalist with too much time on their hands might do: I counted them myself. My total came to around 560 exhibitors—roughly 90 more than last year. Interestingly, even last year there were murmurs that 470 exhibitors felt excessive.

There are no official visitor figures either, but it seems reasonable to assume attendance has grown beyond the 60,000 people reported in 2025. Everywhere in Copenhagen, there was a sense of momentum.

And momentum matters. Today, 3 Days of Design is unquestionably the second most important design event in Europe after Milan Design Week. It has become an essential date in the industry calendar.

What Copenhagen offers, however, is a very different experience from Milan. The city absorbs the influx of visitors remarkably well. You can still get a restaurant table. Moving between exhibitions rarely feels overwhelming. Taxis function. Pavements remain walkable. Unlike Milan’s Brera district during peak week, you are not constantly negotiating crowds or standing in seemingly endless queues.

Perhaps most notably, design remains at the centre of the conversation. Fashion brands, beauty houses and food companies have yet to arrive in force, preserving a focus that Milan has, in some areas, begun to lose.

That said, Copenhagen is no longer the affordable alternative. Hotel prices have climbed sharply. I paid 400 euros a night for a property that described itself as a three-star hotel—a rate that felt uncomfortably close to Milan levels.

The weather, thankfully, was kinder. There was rain, but not enough to disrupt the rhythm of the week.

Yet there is a hesitation in my enthusiasm this year.

Milan possesses a sense of grandeur that is difficult to replicate. There are palaces, historic courtyards, monumental installations and an almost theatrical scale. Copenhagen offers something else entirely: intimacy, liveability and that elusive Danish concept of hygge.

For years, that distinction was part of 3 Days of Design’s appeal. It was the underdog. There was an almost punk-like confidence to the event—a willingness to champion Scandinavian design on its own terms. It felt raw, approachable and refreshingly unpolished.

But underdogs eventually grow up. Last year we saw the first exhibitions getting off the official track. As for instance Other Circle.

This year, for the first time, I found myself wondering whether the event’s rapid expansion has been matched by an equivalent leap in ambition. Expectation and delivery…

Where were the defining launches? The products people would still be talking about six months from now?

Colourscale got toned down and there were absolutely fewer launches. Plainly fewer objects to look at.

Normann Copenhagen presented a beautiful new vase. Yet many of the major brands appeared to focus primarily on extensions of existing collections rather than genuinely new ideas. Muuto introduced a chair. Hay showed two lamps and a sofa. Ferm Living launched three new products. There is, of course, no obligation to reinvent an entire collection every year. But when an event reaches this scale and importance, expectations inevitably rise. Where were the news?

The same could be said of many of the installations. One of the most anticipated presentations came from the glass artist and colour virtuoso Helle Mardahl. Her installation was beautifully executed, but centred around a single coloured pendant lamp, repeated throughout the space. Elegant, certainly. Memorable, perhaps less so.

That may ultimately be the challenge facing 3 Days of Design. The event has successfully outgrown its status as an alternative to Milan. It is no longer the charming outsider. It is now a major international platform with all the expectations that status brings.

Growth is easy to measure. Ambition is harder.

And this year, despite the record numbers and undeniable energy, I left Copenhagen wondering whether the event is still growing creatively at the same pace as it is growing physically.

Pictures above. Top picture from the group installation at Thorvaldsen Museum and a chair by Boris Berlin. Picture two from Dinesen Showroom with recycled cutoffs from plank made into baskets. Picture three from Other Circle. Picture four and five from Normann Copenhagen. And picture six from Helle Mardahl.

My findings from 3 Days of Design below

Orange, yellow and fuchsia

If we start looking at colours I saw a lot of orange that stood out. This year marks the anniversary of Verner Panton and many brands took this opportunity to do things in his honour. Here Vitra.

Orange and yellow, with a fuchsia or purple background at the installation at the French Embassy.

Orange and purple at the Finnish installation. Here by Finarte.

Not so much orange, but a little bit. And a little bit of yellow and fuchsia… A little bit… Here at Other Circle.

Yellow and fuchsia at the lamp installation by Daniel Enoksson.

Yellow and fuchsia at Kvadrat.

Yellow and fuchsia at Magniberg

Benny Brankovic at Other Circle

This colourful dinner setting by Yinka Ilori at Tarkett.

Yellow and orange at Sowden.

Orange and purple at Montana.

Greens and black

Beside the optimistic yellow and fuchsia we also saw all kinds of green. From olive to a deeper chartreuse. Not so much pop colour green, but all the other versions. And with black (and white). Here at colour queen Teklan and Johanson design.

Design gallery Rue Vert.

Normann Copenhagen.

More of Normann Copenhagen.

At Muuto

More Muuto

At Resident

Rareraw

Above three images from Hay

At Bredgade

More black

So, we mentioned black already. Very much together with green. But there was also a lot of black in general. It of course stands out when it is together with white or cream. Here curtains at Kvadrat.