Design intersects with a host of disciplines: ask Silas Adler, the creative director of new design salon Other Circle. “We feel that these boundaries between creative disciplines are dissolving and the way that we engage with culture is shifting,” he tells Monocle. The platform’s first event debuted alongside Copenhagen’s design week earlier this year, to showcase how design, art, music, food and fashion often overlap. It featured more than 50 participants, including local food institutions Atelier September and Noma Projects, as well as Berlin-based Lotto Studio and Reidar Mester, Stockholm-based Joy Objects and Italy’s Meritalia. Adler’s background in the fashion industry (he founded streetwear brand Soulland in 2002) might explain his desire to do away with the rule book.

Why create a showcase that blends so many different disciplines?
We felt that there needed to be a curated exhibition experience that highlights creative culture beyond disciplines. We need these platforms to happen within design week, within fashion week – at these moments, there should be a platform that can be a catalyst for upcoming designers to be in the room with established furniture brands and fashion labels, and next to artists, chefs and people who don’t even put labels on themselves.

How did your experience in the fashion industry lead you to co-create this showcase?
We often put boundaries on ourselves creatively. That was, perhaps, one of the toughest things when I worked in fashion. But creatives are questioning the old models and pushing for something more connected, more alive.

If the boundaries are dissolving, why are there still labels such as ‘fashion’ and ‘design’?
It’s harder for the people selling the work to explain it without a label. But for people consuming creativity, it’s all the same. If you have a great meal or listen to a great record or see design that you really enjoy, it’s the same neurological experience.
othercircle.com