Design: Italian participation at the Copenhagen festival is growing
The Danish capital is hosting 3daysofdesign, a rapidly growing and increasingly international event, which is expected to attract 60,000 visitors in 2025
Key points
More intimate and informal than Milan Design Week – which draws its energy and momentum from the Salone del Mobile held at Fiera Milano – Copenhagen Design Week is growing rapidly and establishing itself as an important international platform for cultural, and indeed commercial, exchange and collaboration.
From a local event to a global platform
Launched in 2013 as an initiative by four Danish companies, 3daysofdesign has, in just over a decade, become one of Europe’s leading design events, growing from around 150 exhibitors in 2019 to over 460 in 2025, attracting more than 60,000 visitors. Today it is Denmark’s official design festival and is considered the most important annual design event in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, but that is not all: partly due to the decline in prominence of certain trade fairs and festivals following the Covid-19 pandemic, Copenhagen is increasingly establishing itself as an international platform, capable of attracting a global audience, second only to the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
Consequently, Italian participation has also grown steadily, with an ever-increasing number of Italian brands – including those of international renown – taking part, and the use of Copenhagen’s permanent showrooms as platforms for product launches and international networking.
The Italian presence
It is difficult to estimate exactly how many Italian brands will be taking part in the 2026 edition of this festival, running from 10 to 12 June. This is precisely because it is a festival rather than a trade fair, with no physical venue where industry professionals pay an entry fee. And this is also what people love about 3daysofdesign: its informal and simple nature as a widespread festival, which transforms the whole of Copenhagen into a giant exhibition platform. Unlike traditional trade fairs held inside exhibition halls, exhibitors present their collections in permanent showrooms, galleries, historic courtyards, stately homes, museums and converted industrial spaces. A sort of giant ‘Fuorisalone’ of Milan.
It is also interesting to note that many Italian brands not only take part in the event as exhibitors, but have also opened permanent showrooms in Copenhagen in recent years and use 3daysofdesign as the highlight of their existing commercial activities in the region. This phenomenon demonstrates a new way in which Italian companies view the Northern European market: not merely a region to which to export, but also a strategic ecosystem for international design.
