Just before Corona we visited Studio Arhoj whose studio was then on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Now the Danish design collective has moved downtown, in the middle of the action. In the Polaroid pictures, we get a mental tour of their new studio. It is an old building and just opposite is the famous Observatory which was formerly a press house. Studio Arhoj has the entire ground floor and basement. Everything is there, even the hot ovens [kiln]. The town hall square is just around the corner. The studio dog is called Hanx, she is named after how Tom Hanks signs his Tweets. She is Studio Arhoj’s co – owner Joe Cooper’s dog. Joe tells what it’s like to be in the new studio now.

– It’s nice to be in the center because it makes us more accessible. The other place was nice but it was a bit difficult to find us, it was a little kitsch factor that we were just sitting there on the outskirts of Copenhagen. But at our new place, we are more visible, there are many Danes who did not even know we existed. We have fantastic windows facing the street that people pass by every day.

When you got the camera what was the first thing you photographed?
– The first thing I took pictures of were the ceramic figures that we call Ghost. Lots of them are lined up on shelves and their colorful glaze pops. Then I ran down to the studio to take pictures of the team, I tried to capture them without them posing. But it is strange that as soon as a camera appears, no matter how small it may be, it is as everyone becomes so self-conscious.

Since we have the studio open to visitors, everyone who works at Studio Arhoj is so aware of the surroundings, so when I came in and they heard the small clicking sound and then when the film rolls out from the Polaroid camera, it naturally becomes both curious and self-aware of what it is doing at the moment. It is not a sound you hear every day and you recognize the sound from a Polaroid. Everyone was excited about how cute and small the camera was.

Who are you who work in the studio?
– It’s a wonderful bunch who work in the studio. Everyone is creative in their own way. Some have a design background but many are just design or color enthusiasts. We have understood that it works very well for a company like us. It will be easy so that those who have a design education in the back can be limited to what they learned in their creation and we are careful to always have a free space to think about design and ceramics. I mean what we can create with clay is infinite, why limit yourself? Design or color enthusiasts are more willing to take risks with color combinations or shapes than the classically trained.

– The different backgrounds that everyone in the team creates room to experiment and help to bring to life incredible color combinations and color schemes that we have now become famous for. I do not think you will find a single person here who does not love color.

What do the colors mean?
– I think it is different for different people. It all starts with what mood and what emotions the team that creates the products are feeling just that day. If they are in a good mood, they create something incredibly colorful, while when it is gray and dull outside, we tend to produce more black and white products. It’s a bit like being drawn to just the colors that stand for today’s feeling or weather or if something has happened. It’s very personal that way. We have also discovered that our customers act in exactly the same way. For example, they can look at 50 Sip cups but in approximately the same glaze but they go into the level of detail which they then choose.

It is a very organic chain of choice, from the time the product is created to the time it is selected. There is a concern behind every decision in some way.
– People are used to buying things that are mass-produced and they all look exactly the same, so you do not have to make those choices. I think that many who come into our store have a bit of a hard time choosing, even those who create the products, every single piece here is different, no one is the same.

How did the team create during Corona?
– We have worked more or less during the entire pandemic and we are grateful that we have had the opportunity to enter the studio and meet, even though we took all safety measures such as keeping distance. I think color became very important to us during that time. For our products tend to give life to the joy, so we went bananas. You look at our vases, for example, with quirky color combinations and the color choices have become even stronger during Covid. It became less dark and earthy tones and we were drawn to the colorful and strong colors.