VÆRKTØJ exhibition at 3DaysOfDesign 2026 – Photo by Peter Vinther.

Design. Danish for tool, VÆRKTØJ is a design exhibition built on a simple idea: each year, the same tool, several designers, entirely different responses. Curators Jonas Trampedach, Frederik Gustav, Kasper Salto, and Michael Antrobus frame it as an inquiry into “how tools shape both process and outcome – and how they quietly inform material choices, forms, and ideas.” This edition’s tool is the sewing machine — “a tool that bridges industrial production and domestic making.”

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From left: works by Foster + Partners Industrial Design, Jonas Trampedach, Lærke Ryom.

Foster + Partners Industrial Design took the act of stitching itself as a starting point for the Lomme lamp. “Stitching does more than connect components; a single seam defines a geometric fold and creates structure.” Two joined sheets form an arch-like luminous silhouette.

Foster + Partners Industrial Design x VÆRKTØJ 3.

Erwan Bouroullec‘s Avalanche Sofa pursues reduction. Built from Tyvek — a synthetic material spun from high-density polyethene fibres — it strips textile down to its essentials: lightweight, durable, washable.

Erwan Bouroullec x VÆRKTØJ 3.

In Frederik Gustav’s Soft Box, small folded and sewn textile volumes are connected by thin spring steel wires, scaling into free-form light clusters that climb and meander through space.

From left: works by Erwan Bouroullec, Louise Campbell, Michael Antrobus, Frederik Gustav.

Jonas Trampedach‘s Taut Lamp stretches textile samples finished with translucent polyester thread over a custom glass tube — at once a light source and structural spine. When lit, the thread nearly disappears, leaving only fabric geometry and the faint trace of the sewing machine’s path.

Jonas Trampedach xVÆRKTØJ 3.

A different kind of memory runs through Sia Hurtigkarl‘s En Sejlmagers Stol. Made from discarded sails, the seat preserves traces of its material’s former life. “It is a study of sailmaking as a craft, exploring stitching, reinforcements, machines, materials, and construction methods used in the sailmaking profession.”

Sia Hurtigkarl x VÆRKTØJ 3.

Kasper Salto‘s Otto stool, meanwhile, reinterprets last year’s table construction; its cushion from upcycled vintage fabric echoes the warm geometry of the pressed-wood base.

Pearson Lloyd‘s BiCone pendant lamp stitches two nylon cones together, with fibreglass struts providing structure. “Ordinarily, we use sewing machines to upholster an underlying form. But here, ripstop nylon and fibreglass struts create the form itself.”

Pearson Lloyd x VÆRKTØJ 3.

Louise Campbell‘s Peep lamps are almost weightless — textiles and paper assembled “using as few stitches as possible and designed for flat packing.” Spiral bands and sticks hold the roll-up forms open; the stitches do the minimum.

Lærke Ryom‘s Enfolded Chair treats upholstery as tailoring. Conceived as a fitted garment dressing the frame, its folds and creases resist the conventional taut finish — dissolving the hierarchy between base and upholstery.

Lærke Ryom x VÆRKTØJ 3.

Michael Antrobus‘ Plane lounge chair suspends a leather sling — two layers precisely sewn along their edges — within a steel framework, with wooden rests integrating seamlessly into the structure.

Micheal Antrobus x VÆRKTØJ 3.