Back in October, the extended Design Hotels community gathered in Copenhagen for our annual Arena* conference, the best attended in the company’s history.Built around the theme of “Silent Knowledge,” it was especially meaningful because this year’s conference marked the 25th anniversary of Design Hotels, a benchmark on which we reflected in various ways throughout the week. Get-togethers took place at some of our favorite venues throughout the city, from the Glyptoteket museum to Nobis Hotel to Copenhagen Contemporary, the city’s newly reopened art space set within an industrial landmark on the edge of town.
The conference itself took place at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, a modernist architectural landmark which we filled with an unorthodox itinerary of talks, performances, and discussions (not to mention copious crystals and a massive T-Rex skeleton replica). From a multimedia trend briefing by leading forecasters The Future Laboratory to talks by Swedish economist Kjell Nordström and world-champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko to a stirring performance by the Iranian-Israeli duo Ariana Vafadari and Hadas Kleinman, the agenda was certainly one to be remembered. Click through the slideshow above to read quotes from some of the speakers, check out photo and video documentation of the event here, and watch this space for info on events to come in 2019!