One of the personal preferences we have here on A La Modern are items from the Scandinavian countries - places like Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. We have a particular weakness for housewares from Denmark, and for the most part we'll pick up any Danish vintage goodies (and some non-vintage ones too) we come across.

Let me tell you though - competition for these items is pretty fierce. We definitely don't come across as many things marked Denmark as we used to. Let's not even get how hard it is to find Danish Modern furniture nowadays!

One of the nicer things found recently was the lazy susan teak server by Digsmed shown above. Unfortunately, the smoky glass colored inserts were missing, but we weren't about to complain. We've seen the full set go for over a hundred dollars in some stores.

We actually don't know much about the Digsmed company, except that they produced a lot of wood/glass housewares and accessories. The timeline of operation is also murky, but it was likely from the 1950s up until at least the 1980s. The Digsmed cheese dome / cutting board shown above is likely a later period item, judging from the type of wood used and the logo. Still, it's a really nice piece and it even has its original foil sticker!

One of the things about vintage Scandinavian items (and for that matter, vintage items from just about any country), is that it can be difficult to figure out the company that produced the item if it isn't obviously marked. Sometimes, you'll recognize a company just from experience, but often even searching the interwebs doesn't help.

We originally thought the wooden tray above might be a Kay Bojesen piece. However, the item is only marked "Made in Denmark" on the back. And while it shares characteristics with the Bojesen tray, certain things about it are different. A wonderful wooden server, nevertheless.

We also picked up this interesting 18/8 steel construction shallow Danish serving bowl with plastic wrapped handles. The wrapping on the handles actually remind us of the material used to wrap some of the Dansk Kobenstyle items (the pitcher in particular). The tray is marked as Made in Denmark, along with a makers mark we don't recognize.

Part of the fun of finding these items is in researching the companies involved. But it can sure be a struggle sometimes to find out anything about them! If you have any ideas on the makers of the last two items, we'd be interested in hearing from you.