03 Sep 2018 / The school and employees

Design School Kolding plays grocery shop in China

Spring rolls by Republic of Fritz Hansen, Tiramisu by Kopenhagen Fur and Nori seaweed sheets by Vola. The Asian theme will be hard to miss when Design School Kolding presents the Super Supermarket concept in China at Beijing Design Week.
By Katrine Worsøe

It mimics a real supermarket – the REDO Super Supermarket. There are shelves, there is merchandise and there are great bargains. Yet, a closer look reveals that the products are neither edible nor usable in a traditional sense. That’s because they are made of residual materials, supplied by a variety of Danish companies. The spring rolls are made from leather, the rye bread from corrugated cardboard, and so on and so on.

The purpose of the REDO Super Supermarket is to inspire people to think about their consumption and reflect on sustainability and reuse in a sensuous way. Now the Chinese get to try out the concept, which was developed by Design School Kolding. They will have the opportunity at a large-scale trade promotion event highlighting Danish Design at the Beijing Design Week end September.

Supermarket in a gas tank
Visiting the REDO Super Supermarket is a little bit like playing grocery shop when you were a child – in actual size, that is. The packaging is simple and colourful, the contents of the bags, boxes and glasses look like the real thing but they are not. Pick up a jar of tiramisu, for instance, and you will find brown-white fur residue supplied by Kopenhagen Fur. This is just one example of how the REDO Super Supermarket challenges consumers’ perceptions of true and false, and points out the question of what to do with the residue materials from industrial production.

The playful approach made the installation particularly popular when it was first presented at the Milan Design Week in spring 2017, where it was nominated for the prestigious Milano Design Award by the Italian organisers. At Beijing Design Week, Danish Design has been assigned a special area inside a rebuilt gas tank, and this is also where the REDO Super Supermarket will be with its off-the-shelf-items and shopping baskets alongside a number of other Danish design companies, all addressing the issue of sustainability in one way or another.

Facts

  • The REDO Super Supermarket concept was originally developed by the Femmes Régionales design agency in collaboration with Design School Kolding. The Chinese version is a further development of the concept made by two Design School Kolding graduates, designers Susanne Nors and Sisse Falster. 
  • The following Danish companies have contributed to the REDO Super Supermarket by supplying production residues: KMC, Pressalit, Solar, Easyfood, Republic of Fritz Hansen, Vola, Kvadrat, La Glace, Ecco, Plus Pack, Ewii, Kopenhagen Fur, Royal Dansk and Montana. 
  • Beijing Design Week takes place 26 September - 5 October 2018. Copenhagen Municipality will guest host the exhibition and has invited a number of representatives of Danish Design to participate. Read more on www.bjdwcopenhagen.org.

For more information about the REDO Super Supermarked, contact Charlotte Melin, Head of Communications & PR at Design School Kolding, cham@dskd.dk, +45 4086 5157.