Sögreni of Copenhagen

Why it is renowned

In the mid-1990s the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art north of Copenhagen asked Søren Sögreni to design a bicycle for it; the result, the Sögreni Classic, entered the museum's permanent collection.¹ A Classic has been shown at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan, and the Conran Shops in England and the Swedish design house Källemo have both carried Sögreni bicycles.¹ The work has appeared in Wallpaper and Condé Nast Traveller, and BikeRadar and the Spanish magazine Ciclosfera have visited the shop.¹² VisitCopenhagen lists Sögreni for visitors who want a Danish designer bicycle to take or ship home.³

The story

Søren Sögreni started the company in 1981, first with bicycles and later with accessories: bells in copper, brass or steel, slim pencil-shaped lamps, pedals and luggage carriers.¹³⁴ In 2002 he was nominated Danish Designer of the Year.¹ For Georg Jensen's first bicycle collection, Wheels, in October 2008, Sögreni built fourteen silver-coloured bicycles with sterling silver bells.¹ Each bicycle is assembled by hand to the rider's choice of size, gears and colour, which takes eight to sixteen weeks, and the frame carries a 25-year warranty.¹⁴ For years the shop stood in Sankt Peders Stræde in Copenhagen's Latin Quarter; it now sits in Birkerød, north of the city.³⁵

What to know it by

• Classic (The Louisiana Bicycle)¹Søren SögreniPlain city bike designed for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
• Old Shatterhand⁴Søren SögreniMen's city bike
• Young Shatterhand⁵Søren SögreniWomen's and unisex city bike
• Sögreni Bell⁵Søren SögreniBicycle bell in brass, copper, steel or matte zinc