By Jayne D'Arcy
Anyone else watch the Scandinavian crime series The Bridge (2011, 2013 with another on its way), and immediately want to grow long blonde hair and strut around the office in a woollen coat and leather pants, a la The Bridge's Swedish cop Saga Noren? After work, you'd return to your simple, yet super-stylish streamlined city flat, or a stunning stark white, or spacious blonde timber abode a little further out. It all looks so damn good.
Functionality, longevity, simplicity, quality, classics, good fabrics and good cuts. Talk about Scandinavian design with its fans, and these are the words that come up, repeatedly.
Model Brit Brockhurst at Great Dane in Johnston Street, Fitzroy.Credit: Simon Schluter
But you don't need to travel far: from solid leather boots, to wild Danish-designed silk dresses, it's getting easier (and cheaper) to get the Scandi look in Melbourne. The Swedish teens' dress shop of choice H&M now has a prime position in the centre of the CBD (the GPO, no less) and you can wine, dine and even cycle the Scandinavian dream. Throw a reindeer hide on the floor then relax on your vintage, or new, Scandinavian-designed sofa that you picked up in Collingwood.
Make your annual events the Scandinavian Film Festival and Toorak's Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar, listen to loads of First Aid Kid on your Bang & Olufsen and hej (hello in Danish)!, you're practically in the Arctic.
Swanston Street bike path Credit: Craig Sillitoe
EAT AND DRINK IT
Dansk at Denmark House
3/428 Little Burke Street, Melbourne
The opening of H&M in Melbourne in 2014.Credit: Ken Irwin
You don't need to be a member to enjoy Danish House, and perhaps the best way to give it a go is to join in on "More Monday Buffet" which gives you an all-you-can-eat opportunity to try the famous smorrebrod (open sandwich). "It's very traditional and authentic Danish food," says executive chef Bente Grysbaek. The adjoining bar has, according to Grysbael, the biggest selection of Danish craft beers and Aquivit (snaps) in the Southern Hemisphere.
Du Nord
Funkis in Melbourne.
367 Little Bourke Street
This is a nordic-inspired cocktail bar right here in Melbourne. Head here for your Copenhagen ($18) and Lingonberry Spritz ($14). There's a teeny bar menu, too, offering salmon roulade, deep fried-pickles and charcuterie.
Eat A Scroll
86 Smith Street, Collingwood
Swedes like their pastries, and to prove it they celebrate Cinnamon Bun Day on October 4 and Waffle Day on March 25. Each morning, pop-up Eat a Scroll makes a fine batch of cinnamon buns, and once they're gone, they're gone. It'll be here until August (it is a pop-up, after all) but is looking for more permanent digs.
Ikea Restaurant
Victoria Gardens, Richmond
917 Princes Highway, Springvale
Ikea's restaurant is best known for its Swedish meatballs (100 per cent Australian pork and beef, if you were wondering), and, yes, Swedish folk living in Melbourne are known to buy them frozen to cook up at home. Ikea's Swedish Food Market sells Swedish food and you can "Take home a taste of Sweden" for $19.99 (you'll get 1 kilogram of meatballs, cream sauce, mashed potato and lingonberry sauce). As mentioned earlier, Swedes like their pastries, so of course Ikea sells plenty of cinnamon scrolls.
LIVE WITH IT
Angelucci 20th Century
113 Smith Street, Fitzroy
Dean Angelucci has been in the Scandinavian furniture business for 25 years, and he's seen the fashion come and go, and come and go. "We were 10 years behind in the first place," he recalls of Australia in the 1950s. "In the 1990s we couldn't sell a teak buffet to save ourselves," he says. It's a different story now.
Danish Modern
28 Macaulay Street, Williamstown North (open weekends 11am-4pm)
This one has been around since 1995, selling Danish vintage furniture and homewares, including beautiful Danish mobiles which start from $29. Our fave? The Viking mobile 5, with its Viking ships bobbing happily along.
Danish Red
1181 High Street, Armadale
It's rosewood and teak galore here, with a mixture of old and new furniture for sale. Pick up a Finnish reindeer hide for $395. Danish Red also has a vintage-only warehouse at 9/94-102 Keys Road in Moorabbin.
DK Living
1371 Malvern Road, Malvern
Open Thursday-Sunday
This shop pretty much only stocks vintage furniture from Denmark, shipping it in regularly. Get your original Wegner and Klein chairs and Stouby leather sofas here.
Great Dane
175 Johnston St, Fitzroy
More reindeer skins here: you're looking at $595 for the standard (sourced as a byproduct of Lapland's traditional reindeer hunting), or $995 for white. Furniture-wise, Great Dane has an in-house design team who have taken the "best elements of the classic Danish sofa", tinkered with it and created the Klassik range.
20th Century Scandinavia
79 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
This is where you'll find plenty of the original stuff: think mid-century Danish, Swedish and Norwegian furniture, sourced straight from the source (shipments arrive from Denmark every few months). A vintage cognac leather and beech three-seater sofa from Denmark will set you back $3450.
MOVE IT
Copenhagen-style bicycle lanes are slowly making an appearance around Melbourne. These lanes physically separate cyclists from parked and moving Saabs and Volvos (and other non-Scandinavian cars), and are popular in, you guessed it, Copenhagen. You'll find them along La Trobe Street, St Kilda Road (southbound) and north Swanston Street. They run along Albert Street in East Melbourne, Abbotsford Street in North Melbourne and construction has just begun on one heading towards the CBD on Wellington Street, Collingwood.
PS Bikes
201 Hyde Street, Yarraville
As bikes explode in number in and around the city, the number of cargo-carrying bikes is too, and many are Denmark's award-winning Christiana Bikes.
Check them out at PS Bikes, which also sells Danish Bullitt cargo bikes and Swedish Pilen bikes.
WEAR IT
Acne Studios
Shop 22, The Strand, 250 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
1065 High Street, Armadale
These designed-in-Stockholm clothes might require a double take, as they're, well, niche. A cigarette butt sits next to strawberries and flesh in one amazing print - you can own this silk dress (called the Bley) for $1250. The unedited version of the print, as seen on the Paris catwalk, contained nudity, but wasn't picked up for the racks here (or anywhere, apparently).
Duckfeet
rear 169 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy
Open Thursday to Saturday 10am – 5pm
Get your solid winter clodhoppers (and summer sandals) here. Mind you, with their crepe rubber soles, they don't actually make a sound. Owner Simon King started selling Duckfeet shoes in Melbourne six years ago. "I saw them, loved the look of them, which is not necessarily a good way to build a business, but it's true. I researched them; they're handmade in Europe; made the same way for 40 years; haven't changed their style and use environmentally-sound leathers. And they were Danish. I love Danish design," he says.
Funkis
Shop 12, The Strand, 250 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
A Sydney label that makes Swedish-style clogs in Sweden opens a shop in Melbourne ... And we're glad it has. The shop opened last year and stocks more than just an impressive range of clogs and sandals; you can source your Scandinavian skin creams (L:A Bruket), reading glasses and brushware (and more) here too. Clogs start at $95. Keep an eye out for Funkis' new 10 centimetre-heeled Sky Highs ($239).
H&M & COS
GPO, Melbourne
The Strand, 250 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
Yes, you read that right. H&M is Swedish, don't you know? H&M opened in Sweden in 1947. Now there are billions of them (not literally), including the one that opened a year ago in Melbourne. Its offering is masses of clothing for the masses, with, well, massive queues. Six months ago an upmarket version of H&M, COS (Collection of Style), opened across the road to much less fanfare.
Marimekko
Level 1, Shop 143, Emporium, Melbourne
576 Chapel Street, South Yarra
Loud and bright, there's no shying away from Finnish company Marimekko's colourful creations, which were brought into Australia by Marion Best after she saw them in Milan in 1954. Familiar with Unikko, the poppy? Or Kivet, the large red dotted pattern? Many of the designs on display are decades old (why improve on the best?), so you may even see something that looks like your mother's curtains. You'll find loads of women's clothing on the racks as well as soft furnishings and ceramics.
Swensk
Swensk.com
1/230 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Swensk, hidden on Little Collins Street, has just had a reno, but don't expect a dramatic change in its clothes, as its Danish staples are exactly that: styles that buyers go back to year after year. "Our brands need to fit a certain criteria," says co-owner Jane Matthews. "They're established labels who know what they're doing and have a core offering." "Black-collar workers" who know good design can pick up their Filippa K, J. Lindeberg and Blk Dnm here.
LEARN IT
NGV has jumped on the Scandiwagon with its current exhibition Nordic Cool: Modernist Design. Most of the gallery's Scandinavian pieces were acquired in 1952 and this exhibition features goodies from the 1920s to 1960s. Check it out at NGV International until December 31, 2015 (free). Ngv.vic.gov.au.
The Council of Adult Education (CAE) runs weekly Swedish and Danish classes; the next Elementary 1 Swedish class begins on May 14 and Danish starts May 5 ($319). Check their term guides for interesting one-off classes like "Nordic Noir Literature". Cae.edu.au.
CELEBRATE IT
Eurovision is huge in Scandinavia, and Denmark House's Bar Dansk (see Eat and Drink It) is celebrating the grand final on May 24. Will Australia's Guy Sebastian win? When did Australia become a part of Europe? Tickets are limited, but a bargain ($15, including a Eurovision cocktail) and there's a quiz (maybe with those questions?). restaurantdansk.com.au.
In 2010, Warburton, just a bit over an hour's drive from Melbourne, got all Nordic with its inaugural Nordic Festival, and it's been an annual event since. This year it'll be held on October 17-18. BYO Viking helmet or get one there. nordicfestival.org.
The Scandinavian Film Festival will hit Melbourne's Palace Cinemas for the second time from Thursday, July 9 until Sunday, July 26. Last year 21 films were screened; keep an eye on the website to find out what's planned for this year. Scandinavianfilmfestival.com.
The first weekend of December (December 5-6 in 2015) sees Christmas hit the big time at the Swedish Church in Toorak (21 Saint Georges Road). The popular Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar features stalls selling stylish (of course) Scandinavian gifts as well as traditional food and live music and dancing. svenskakyrkan.se.
GO THERE
It may well be the end of the super-popular Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) season (it's pretty much over this month), however it's as good a time as any to plan an adventure to the next one, which starts in November. Melbourne-based company 50 Degrees North organises trips all around the area and suggests planning a Northern Lights adventure for the eve of a new moon between November and April. fiftydegreesnorth.com.
Melbourne photographer Ewen Bell runs photography tours of Norway, Iceland and Sweden each year. Norway Winter Scapes will get you looking for the Aurora Borealis and learning how to get arctic Norway looking as good through the lens as it does in real life. Nab the last spot on the February 25-March 10, 2016 tour ($9800 each), or try his Iceland or Swedish Lapland tours. ewenbell.com.