After years as Copenhagen's foremost florist, Julius Iversen is now nurturing the city's blooming art scene
Julius Iversen works in a "grey zone", as he puts it. That may sound an odd thing to say from someone who has spent much of his life playing with colour, specifically the natural array of colours that comes from being Denmark's preeminent floral artist.
Yet in his current role as owner of Tableau - one of Copenhagen's most interesting galleries - Iversen says he is working in the grey zone between art and design, embracing multiple disciplines and working to feature a mix of up and coming as well as established artists. And from that "grey zone", a vibrant, exciting gallery is emerging.
We sat down with Iversen to discuss the state of the Copenhagen art scene and who would be in his dream collection.
Julius Iversen, owner of Tableau. Photo: Frederikke Nørgård
What do you look for when featuring artists at Tableau?
We always like to look for artists who work in the grey zone between art and design. We don’t like it to be too repetitive, but instead bespoke, one of a kind. For it to be interesting for us it needs to be contemporary and likely functional. It doesn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with the botanical world, however we often curate art and design that has some kind of relation to this.
We work with artists that are both upcoming and established, Scandinavian and international, which we see as a great mix. We like to work with people who share the same aesthetics as us, and often do collaborations with those.
Table by Austrian designer Laurids Gallée.
How has the art industry developed over the past years in Copenhagen?
I would say that it’s a good mix. There’s been a lot of progress in bespoke design for a couple of years. More and more artists work on the border between art and design. There are also more and more well-established artists in Denmark, who are starting to get acknowledged internationally. Denmark has always been well known for its architecture and design. Before there were a lot of architects who designed furniture, now it’s also artists who design furniture and designers who do art. This wasn’t as respected just 10 years ago.
At the same time, we use art differently now than we’ve been doing before, and you see a much bigger interest for art and design in our everyday life. Also with the many public events during 3daysofdesign, Art Week, Art Walk, and more.
In Tableau, we also try to use art and design in a different way, such as as a part of mental health [treatments], where we curate different artists for the spatial design projects we do. For example, we just did a spatial design called 'Post Service', where the rooms and objects will be used as a part of therapy.
Flower installation for 'The Garment' at Copenhagen Fashion Week SS22. Photo: Frederikke Nørgård
Our next spatial design is the café for Copenhagen Contemporary, which will open in December, under the name 'Stoledans'. For this, we curated 25 different artists and designers, who will each come up with the design of a chair and other furniture. The name comes from the idea that both artist/designers and users of the chairs interact with each other and the objects.
We are very happy that cultural life is a bigger part of our everyday life now, and that art is being spread out even more. Even though we are a flower gallery, big international artists are still interested in exhibiting with us, such as Laurids Gallée, who are exhibiting with us next week.
In Tableau we also want everyone to feel welcome. Many people find it a bit intimidating to walk into a gallery. Therefore, we also use flowers to make people feel welcome.
'Post Service' is Tableau's new spatial design created to be used as a therapeutical clinic addressing grief and death. .
Where do you find your inspiration?
I find inspiration everywhere I go. This can be anywhere from a builder’s merchant to the architecture I’m surrounded by to some coloured shoes walking by. I see everything very pictorially. But I also find a lot of inspiration in the fashion world, and other creative industries mixed with the industrial world. For example, we just did an installation with flowers hanging in some very thick chains from the ceiling at Copenhagen Contemporary.
Who are the three galleries, three artists, and three artworks on your wish list?
For the three galleries, Sharp Project, which is a very new highly contemporary gallery, and indeed something to watch; Last Resort who mostly does furniture and objects; and finally Nicolai Wallner, who does contemporary fine art.
As we work with so many international artists, it is difficult not to mention them. One to watch worldwide is Laurids Gallée who will exhibit with us from 21 October this year. For Danish artists, I would say, Anne Brandhøj, Rasmus Myrup and Ari Prasetya, who are all very talented and upcoming.
I would love to own a wall piece from Anton Funck, one of Karl Monies’ containers, and a patchwork from Kristian Touborg.