Welcome to Johan Borups Højskole 

We are a school rooted in the Danish tradition of folk high schools — places for learning, community, creativity and conversation. Our school was founded in 1891 and today, we are an artistic school where young students from Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia come together. Here they explore art, culture and the world around them. And because we are right in the middle of Copenhagen, we believe the school should take part in the city, too. So we are here to make some noise!

STØJBYG – THE BIG RED CHAIR

STØJBYG — which roughly translates as “Noise Building” or “Noise Making”— is a course where our students create, experiment and build things with their hands that are deliberately loud in their expression. They take their creations out into the city, where they become part of the urban environment and invite people to notice, interact and wonder.

These chairs and the table were made entirely from leftover wood from an exhibition at Thorvaldsens Museum. Over the course of a week, the students developed the concept, designed and built the installation themselves, with guidance from teacher Thomas Persson. 

The chairs are inspired by the Italian designer Enzo Mari, who was advocating DIY long before it became a movement. In the 1970s, he published Autoprogettazione — a kind of DIY manifesto and furniture manual. Here he was offering instructions for building a range of pieces from little more than a pile of wooden boards, nails, a handsaw and, of course, a hammer.

The idea was beautifully simple: design should not necessarily begin with a finished product, but with what you have at hand and the desire to make something yourself.

The colours take their cue from the Danish artist Albert Mertz, known for his striking and almost obsessive use of a particular combination of blue and red. We have borrowed that bold relationship between the two colours, tweaked it and given it a new life in the chairs.

The result is a small public space: oversized and undersized chairs and a table — made to make you stop for a moment.

Sit down. Have a chat. Eat your lunch. Wonder what it is.