3 Days of Design 2026 | A Field Report from Copenhagen

In one of my posts from last year, I wrote about how 3 Days of Design keeps getting bigger, this year I traveled to Copenhagen a day earlier and stayed a day longer and that extra first afternoon gave me time to visit a number of exhibitions in advance. Still, it already felt like a lot, even on that first afternoon, before the festival really kicked off. Before leaving for Copenhagen, I made a list of what I wanted to see. While I have seven days in Milan to see “everything”, which is already impossible, three or four days in Copenhagen forces me to be even more selective.

Walking through Copenhagen on the first day, it briefly crossed my mind: I’m not getting it this year! As a visitor to 3 Days of Design since 2013, I recognize many Scandinavian brands by now and notice a lot of repetition. At that moment, I decided to focus on the larger exhibitions and clusters, as well as my long-time favourite shops and galleries, rather than stepping into every showroom I passed, I’d save those for the last day if there was still time, but even with being in town for 5 days I hardly had time.

Choosing What to See

3 Days of Design has grown into a city wide programme, with hundreds of participating brands and events spread across different districts. It is no longer something you can simply walk through like the first editions. The experience is defined less by what you see, and more by the choices you make along the way.

What struck me this year is not so much the city feeling crowded, because Copenhagen is the opposite of Milan in that sense, but rather the amount of design happening across the city at the same time. Over 400 participating brands and more than 600 events spread across different districts create a constant awareness that you cannot see everything. The streets themselves remain calm and easy, but there is a quiet tension in the background: the feeling that every turn could lead to something you might miss.

A Different Kind of Intensity

It is a different kind of intensity than Milan. I wrote about this earlier this year in my post From Noise to Choice, reflecting on how both cities share the same reality: you can never see everything. In Milan, that feeling comes through density and constant stimulation. In Copenhagen, it comes from the way the programme is spread across the city and the awareness of everything happening at once. In both cases, it is about learning to accept limits and make choices.

Moving Through the Festival

So I shifted my way of moving through the festival. Larger exhibitions and established clusters became anchors in the day, along with a some familiar galleries and shops I return to every year. I also made space for a few selected events, such as talks, which I planned more intentionally into the days.

That shift changed the rhythm of my days. It created a different kind of attention, less about moving from one showroom to the next, and more about allowing each place to set its own pace. Even within this more selective approach, I have experienced that one strong presentation could determine the entire day and make me feel that everything was perfectly fine, even if the rest of the day featured less spectacular exhibits.

Ultimately, it was another strong edition, with many highlights but also many missed exhibitions and events. In the end, it is often the smaller moments that stay with me: moving through the city, still being surprised, and the daily encounters with friends, brands and designers along the way.

I will highlight a few of the exhibitions from these days in separate posts, while the rest will appear on Instagram. My Instagram highlight 3 Days of Design 2026 will remain as a permanent archive of images I made throughout the festival, gradually building a visual impression of these days in Copenhagen.

This article is part of The Collectible Edit

vosgesparis is an independent online Interior & Design magazine with an international focus.
For features, brand collaborations or sponsored projects, see how to work with vosgesparis
Shop my Selection