When Blue Fluted Mega was launched in the year 2000, it took the world by storm. The new reinterpretation of the classic Blue Fluted design wrote design history, and is still sold around the world today. This year Blue Flute Mega turns ten, which is being marked with the launch of a number of impressive new items for the popular series, including tureens, stands and cake dishes.

There are many myths about how the young designer Karen Kjældgård-Larsen had the idea to enlarge parts of the Blue Fluted pattern. An accident with the photocopier. A Blue Fluted plate seen through a glass with a thick bottom. Or perhaps a couple of quick sketches on six paper plates. The reality of what happened when the young designer Karen Kjældgård-Larsen created the draft of what ended up being the popular Blue Fluted Mega series is not quite so exotic-sounding. She was working on her presentation for her final project at The Danish Design School and had created the new decoration. She presented this to Royal Copenhagen in 1998 and the service was launched in the autumn of 2000, creating a global success.

Unique recognisability
Karen Kjældgård-Larsen’s unique design was based on the Blue Fluted pattern, which we know so well and which has gradually become an integrated part of Denmark’s cultural heritage. She herself had grown-up with the Blue Fluted service and had always been fascinated by it and the tiny differences that characterise the hand-painted service, and which make every single piece something unique. For this reason, the Blue Fluted Mega decoration came about only with great respect for the old service, which was the porcelain factory’s first service from 1775.

Selected fragments are enlarged, so that the beautiful sweeping lines and segments of the stylised chrysanthemum interact in an almost graphic whole. Karen Kjældgård-Larsen says that she tries to be true to the decoration’s own narrative by enlarging the pattern so that it retains its original shape and overall structure. In this way a new world is opened and the flowers become figurative beings in a graphical and asymmetric composition, in which the hand-painted qualities really come into their own.

”History inspires and fascinates me. Therefore, I wanted to create something new, which could build on the old series and update it with a modern mode of expression, while adding a little humour to give it a twist. My Blue Fluted Mega design always tells a story and the reference to the Blue Fluted pattern is clear – I am transforming a piece of design history so that it matches the spirit of the time and is elevated into the future,“ says Karen Kjældgård-Larsen.

The Blue Fluted Mega is an example of how modern design can provide a narrative on our history and cultural heritage with a relevant expression that fits into the modern home.

Royal Copenhagen is famous for creating exclusive hand-made porcelain that has graced homes all over the world for generations. Since 1775 we have been purveying ground breaking design, exquisite quality and sublime craftsmanship that combine tradition with innov ation. Blue Fluted Mega is an exciting revitalisation of a Danish design classic and a refreshing take on Royal Copenhagen’s hand-painted traditions

Visit the WCN Royal Copenhagen information pages and message board.