Meet the Personas
Persona, presented by ADORNO during this year’s 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen, explores the emotional complexity of the self through the lens of contemporary collectible design.
This immersive exhibition transforms human personality traits into three sensorially rich environments, offering a vivid exploration of humanity through design. Rooted in themes of authenticity and the power of self-expression, Persona invites visitors on a journey through three interconnected rooms: the Perfectionist, the Eccentric, and the Romantic, each embodying a distinct facet of human identity. Through spatial storytelling, multisensory elements, and material expression, the exhibition delves into how design can mirror the emotional and psychological complexity of the self.
Curated by Chase Drake Jensen and Martin Clausen, Persona showcases emerging talent from an eclectic mix of nearly 80 designers across 28 countries, celebrating experimentation, craftsmanship, and ambitious design.
More than an exhibition, Persona is an invitation to feel, reflect, and see yourself in the objects around you. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself standing before a piece, not merely admiring its form, but recognizing something familiar… and thinking, “That’s me.”
– Chase Drake Jensen, Director of Exhibitions & Partnerships
At the Epicenter of the Fair
Persona unfolds at the very center of Copenhagen’s annual design celebration, 3daysofdesign, within the first-floor apartment of the fair’s headquarters at Frederiksgade 1. This historic setting has been reimagined as a dynamic, sensorial apartment; each room embodying a distinct persona, with the transitional spaces serving as connective tissue between shifting states of identity.
Running from June 18-20, 2025, this year’s edition of 3daysofdesign is expected to draw thousands of international guests, making Persona not just a reflective journey, but a cultural moment.
And now, without further ado, it’s time to “Meet the Personas.”
The Perfectionist
A space of control, balance, and refinement, the Perfectionist is anchored in symmetry and polished surfaces, an ode to discipline, exactitude, and elegance. Look no further than the meticulously hand-brushed steel Chunk Stool by Obscure Objects or the bold geometry of Zoé Wolker’s Ame II Steel Pedestal.
Sleek metalwork, clear glass, and minimal forms express a rigid desire for order and the satisfaction of a finished edge. Pristine facades evoke sculptural utility, geometric clarity, and refined materiality, revealing the beauty of exacting design. Even the most diminutive details reinforce the room’s sculptural discipline, perhaps most pointedly in the architectural Stadia Clock by Studio Re.d or the mirrored ensemble by Jochen Lavéno Mangelsdorff, Mila Zila, Joana Teixeira, and Vincent Decat, each one confronting the perfectionist with their own reflection and the tension of control.
A standout in The Perfectionist room, Mantas Lesauskas’ Natrix Natrix Bar Cabinet merges sculptural precision with symbolic depth. Its serpentine form and perforated mesh veil evoke themes of concealment and control, transforming a functional object into a provocation; a meditation on containment, transparency, and the unease of what lies just beneath the surface.
Hovering above the MONTE steel dining table by SALAK Studio is the Hatch Eggshell Pendant by Yellowdot, offering a haunting counterpoint to the Perfectionist’s severity. Composed of nearly 60 hand-arranged eggshells, its austere form delicately reminds us that perfection, no matter how precise, is ultimately a fragile and unsustainable balancing act.
The Eccentric
The Eccentric is an unpredictable playground; energetic, off-kilter, and unapologetically weird. This room is a playful rebellion against formality, a celebration of unorthodoxy in its most glorious, unhinged forms. At its heart is Duyi Han’s exuberant Big Party folding screen, a limited edition of 6. Both absurd and magnetic, it reflects our collective craving for validation and constant performance, reminding us not to take ourselves so damn seriously.
Skewed proportions and silhouettes animate every corner. Chai Dienn’s Cloud Coffee Table feels plucked from a cartoon, while Anna Jožová’s oversized DYSPLASIO vase pulses with a surreal energy, somewhere between an alien sea creature and an LCD trip.
One piece you won’t soon forget is Atelier SOHN’s B.S.P “The Original” chair. With its gooey, tactile surface, crafted from bio-product, solvent, and plastic, it begs to be touched. It sits in playful conversation with Yvonne Mak’s flowing, candy-colored Imprint curtains and Better Weather Studio’s PATINA chair, forming a ménage à trois that feels as right as it is wonderfully peculiar.
This maximalist den of curiosities doesn’t stop there. A custom blue pine Tip Top shelving unit by Studio Daae houses soft ceramics by UKWIAŁ, sensational glass sculptures by PIA GLASSWORKS, and a cast of playful oddities. And before you leave, look up. A wall of Evil Eye mirrors by Studio Dafi Reis Doron stares back at you, watching over this unruly room of objects.
The Romantic
Dreamlike and intimate, the Romantic is a slow-breathing space of longing and vulnerability. Plush red velvet textures, moody lighting, and sensual scent compositions by En Doft wrap visitors in a rich, sensorial cocoon. This is a space where atmosphere takes precedence and emotion outweighs utility.
Upon entering, it’s impossible to miss MARUXI’s Playgrounds Can Age Too daybed. Oozing with sexy playfulness, it steals the spotlight beneath the ambient glow of Isabel Moncada’s entrancing Maratus Horsehair light fixture. This tender, textural, and charged pairing, may well be one of the most talked-about moments of 3daysofdesign, a pure embodiment of romanticism incarnate.
But the indulgence doesn’t stop there. From M’ama edizioni’s steel fabric Vittoria changing station to BGGB Studio’s intoxicating Arquà Manuscript Tapestry I, every piece invites a deeper emotional entanglement. The debut of STUDIO KIMBYUNGSUB’s Narrative002 shelving unit, introduces a spiritual undercurrent. With twin totems, it stirs something ancestral, almost sacred, in the room.
Dotting this decadent space are statement lights that intensify its sensual pull: Heike Buchfelder’s dark, iridescent green Luna Nova lamp, delicately feathered with rooster plumage; Sabrina Merayo Nuñez Weaver’s Nest pendant, aglow with the warmth of a beating heart; and Karnukaeva Studio’s Nomad III:01, a piece that channels romance in its fullest expression: embracing, convoluted, soft, raw, and everything in between.
Transitional Spaces
Together, these three rooms: the Perfectionist, the Eccentric, and the Romantic, alongside the transitional spaces that bind them, form a portrait of the inner self. Not fixed, but fluid. Not labeled, but layered.
As you weave from room to room, these connective spaces act as the edges where one persona blurs into another. Anne Nowak’s Chakra Mirrors invite cosmic introspection in the main hallway, Mmh Objects’ Murex Tapestry carries remnants of playfulness still buzzing after leaving the Eccentric, and Hasik Design Studio’s Tabernaculum cabinet reveals restrained traces of perfection.
These interstitial moments remind us that identity is never singular, but in constant motion, always becoming.
