Not a thing of the past: Overtone®’s identity gives Christiansborg Palace a historic yet modern edge

Built, destroyed and rebuilt many times over, the Christiansborg Palace in central Copenhagen is still very much a part of Denmark’s cultural fabric. With a layered history, the palace and government building is a seat for historical events, welcoming over 500,000 guests into its hallowed halls. As such, the palace is both a sentinel of the past and a place where modern Danish life unfurls. Capturing this dichotomy was important for Aarhus-based design studio Overtone® when they took up the task of creating an identity for the palace. “As part of the design process, we established a strategic foundation for the identity. The palace has great historical significance but is also well-known in modern Denmark, as the Parliament is located in one wing, and the royal chambers are used for official state visits and major royal events, such as the proclamation of HM King Frederik X’s accession to the throne,” says Founder & Creative Director Nicolaj Bak. “The strategic foundation is based on the idea that history is written in the present – ‘History happens here.’” To capture this duality of the palace’s identity, the team documented the rich Neoclassical interiors – with their elaborate ornamentations – and began distilling this aesthetic through a contemporary lens, ultimately arriving at a custom-designed, classical serif typeface. The resulting style, as Bak points out, “is more aligned with high-end fashion brands than with what one typically associates with a historical palace.”