I'm A Kombo

Post popup vol#003 + future…

Bo — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:20:44 +0000

We are back from our holidays! Just before we turned of the fridge and left the office, we did a performance at Roskilde Festival. It was good fun and what a response. There were pissed people wanting to beat us, dirty people wanting more, stoned people tripping, news reporters who didn’t get it – and people loving, hating, liking… We will definitely do it again next year. The winter schedule is filling up and we are eager to move on. I was talking to some friends trying to explain what we do. Sometimes when listening to your self, things suddenly make sense. Unfortunately nothing made sense, but I realize that we need to get organized. We have loads of ideas, lots of regained energy and a strong believe in what we do. So when doing our pre planned winter ventures, we will try to be clearer in our language and perform with a tighter more simplified expression. So far, besides all the private events, we are building on the fourth edition of our popup restaurant concept (tickets on sale from start September on this site) and talking to some cool guys in Berlin about the fifth and finial round in November. Also our veggie salads at 42Raw are turning into a new winter collection starting very soon. Last but not least we have decided to start looking at a permanent location in Copenhagen. We are definitely not opening a restaurant, but if we want to take those steps further into the future we need help. I guess a brand new kitchen would be a good start.

As soon as I get hold of the photos from Roskilde I’ll upload them on this post. Until then watch the confused food critic on this link. Søren Frank from Berlingske Tidende did a short web tv feature on our project, check it out (danish).

I just made this clip after looking through our Roskilde recordings. After eating us, this happy woman expressed herself… I know that she has been to a few events all ready and I hope that she will join us next time. We need that kind of karma around us!

Guerilla food at barbershop

Bo — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:37:40 +0000

Just found this “paparazzi” kind of photo from a folder on my computer called fun stuff for the blog! Anyway, it’s a good way to describe some of the stuff we do different. Some CEO´s where going out to discuss business. They wanted it to be private and not to be surrounded by other people eating. The guy, who paid, also wanted (and as they always want) to show off. He wanted it to be something that the others had never tried before! We got the call and luckily we had just been introduced to a fantastic old-fashioned super cool barbershop in midtown, called Barb. Jonas, who owns the place, is always up for something special as long as it’s classy. We all had a memorable night and it’s a reminder, that when the customer is open for an experience it all ends well.

Our biggest job to this day.

Bo — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:07:57 +0000

The beginning of this year has been dominated by our work and focus, turning Samsungs “turn on tomorrow” 2010 event into something special. Samsung Denmark recently moved into new premises and luckily there was an empty space next door where we could build an eating experience from scratch. The job was to treat their customers, after a long day of travelling, listening and learning about new products and other Samsung related stuff. We didn’t want to seat all the guests in a usual traditional way. The guests had all been taking part of a very structured and determined program all day long, so our initial focus was on giving them lots of freedom during the meal. The eating area had been hidden behind the speaker’s stage and was first revealed just before the dinner started. As the guests was being greeted and invited into our world, they entered a white very Samsung inspired room with food placed on LED screens hooked onto cameras recording live from the kitchen showing the food being prepped as they ate. This room was called the Mingle and besides the edible screens, the guests was introduced to onion bread being baked in ovens that also was used as serving posts, bright neon green ice cubes from the dispensers in the fridges and salty sweet snacks in mobile containers, that were carried around as they mingled. What I’m trying to explain is that the main idea was to integrate the food and the products as much as possible and to let the guests interact with that fusion at the same time. As time passed a fridge door suddenly revealed a secret passage. The guests was divided into groups and led through that passage by a hostess and now found themselves inside of Samsung. They entered a room filled with blue monochromatic light and a deep heartbeat sound. They were served raw beef and were told to eat it with their fingers. After a few minutes a new hostess entered and the guests were led through yet another passage into a room filled with pampering and luxury. They were served a dish with lumpfish row and puffed caramel and a glass of classic burgundy. Everything was set in a sumptuous way with lots of Danish design and attention to detail. After they finished their plates and the glasses were empty they once more were picked up by a hostess and led through another passage. This time, to find themselves in a backstage area were they were served an edible plate with poached chicken and spring greens to go. That was the end of carousel and they finished the edible plate while standing back in the Mingle. Check out the gallery below, especially if the above makes no sense. It was a great week and we want to thank all the people that helped us turning our food on tomorrow.

i´m a KOMBO popup vol#003

Bo — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:54:40 +0000

In about week the music starts playing… After a few minor projects at Roskilde throughout the past years, we are ready with the real deal. We will do our third volume of the food installation and performance “destruction of a meal”. It opens Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the afternoon at different locations. The popup spots and timetable are (check the map above): Wednesday between 18-20 pm. at the Camp grounds by entrance east. Thursday between 18-20 pm. by Nordic and Friday between 15-17 pm. in the Media city. Look for a white setup – We look forward seeing you there. The video posted under “destruction of a meal” was shot, during the first volume a few years back. Check it out.

Dinner party by I’m a KOMBO

Bo — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:17:40 +0000

Last week everything turned white. We were asked to create a formal dinner, not so formal in a beautiful Copenhagen setting. The people inviting, were eager not to host a traditional dinner, because they didn’t want their guests sitting down for hours and hours listening to speeches and what else. They wanted a lot of mingling, a trend I would say, at least between our customers. We divided the room into three zones with each a theme. The guests were led between these sections as the night went by. First a glass in the garden saying hallo to Fredric the peacock, who had been guarding the doors ever since we arrived earlier. Luckily he let the people through and they were invited indoors for snacks and yet another drink. We put a lot of effort into those bites, because we had planned for them to mingle, for about an hour. When we finally aloud them to sit at their tables they got a little surprise. The tables were set with a white cloth on top only showing the starters. It’s a concept that we developed for our popup vol#002, and it’s about talking, teamwork and changeling the atmosphere drastically after the first course has been eaten. Also the food and wine changes, from very minimalistic style -almost lab kind of look to a rustic plate with lots of taste. When the starter is gone we simply remove the chosen material used as cover and the accessories for the next dish is revealed. After, they couldn’t help it!, a few speeches and when everybody was pleased, we asked them to leave their tables and go back to the snack area, where we had arranged the desserts and coffee. By then, one could do as he pleased. The garden was filled with cool refreshing beers as we cleaned down the kitchen and shortly after a bus came and picked our very happy guests. Thanks for a great night! Check out the pics below. I don’t think I have mentioned it, but we have joined up with a super cool very young photographer, who I hope will supply this page, with his fantastic photos. His name is Oscar Meyer.

Summer collection 42Raw

Bo — Mon, 31 May 2010 17:51:52 +0000

The sun is shinning and all the vegetables that we have been waiting fore have arrived. At 42raw that means new salads behind the counter. We decided to stay with the techniques from winter and put our focus on the good produce. I think (if you are interested) you should read the early raw food article, which I have written to get an understanding of the stuff. It’s quite interesting and has been quite challenging and fun for us to work with. Check the gallery for photos of the new arrivals. Their names; tomato/avocado – zucchini/peanut – potato/samphire – asparagus/seaweed – rhubarb/fennel – cabbage/ramson and strawberry/olive. Go visit the counter for a taste of the above. As a new thing we introduced some replacement players, because of the rapid change of seasonal veggies at this time of year. Next one coming up, beginning of July, is watermelon/and something very very crispy…

Rethink the kombo

Bo — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:52:12 +0000

This week started with an inspirational talk… Food is on everybody’s lips and luckily used as inspiration for other kind of professions. This time, as an example on how to give people an uplifting experience though working inside a set frame. That day dishes turned metaphors, virtually usable in all kind of businesses! (I have realized). Thinking about food, almost all dinners, in this part of the world, are build around a classic menu structure. It is no surprise that we start with the starters, then the main arrives and so on! When that is said, there are a lot of other rules applied when creating a personalized menu. Do not repeat techniques, remember to think seasonal, don’t forget the full colour spectre, don’t saturate the taste palette before late in the meal, leave appetite for the next course and so on. All the above and lots more are our everyday life. We sit and interpret, redesign, and mess up this stuff all day long, so that our guests will feel our food deep down inside.

Popup vol#002 at Andy´s Bar

Bo — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:43:13 +0000

It’s been a few weeks now… and I think we really did something special, at our popup vol#002. It was held at a classic Danish bodega called Andy’s Bar in central Copenhagen. The doors opened every night at seven and the guests were given a liquorice shot and a warm welcome. Then the seating started and luckily the tables were filled up every night. It was supposed to be a dinner party and our aim was to create an atmosphere that kicked a… We wanted people to laugh out loud, enjoy themselves and each other crisscrossing the tight table setting talking and interacting with strangers.

The menu consisted of finger food and håndbajer (Danish term for drinking beer strait out of a the bottle), then a creamed cauliflower soup with bacon smelling fingers, casserole of calves tails and red wine with beetroot bubbles, a common song and finally a candy cake with sorbet and tube sauce. There is too much to write about the above listed. It would be a shame to tell you more because what we really want is to give you a no expectations full on experience next time we show up. Sign up for our newsletter and we will keep you updated. Popup vol #003, will happen ultimo June. We’ll see you then!

We need to thank our collaborators: off course the fantastic people at Andy’s Bar, as always Eva Denmark, Carlsberg for all the beer, Superfos for the cool plastic buckets, Rosforth and Rosforth for adjusting their prices to our budget and last but not least all of you who joined the I´m a kombo party.

Destruction of a meal.

I'm A Kombo — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:40:17 +0000

The text below is taken from one of our old sites. We want to reuse it, because it’s going to be the inspiration and starting point for the next popup event. As the text ends, we are really looking forward to develop this idea and we believe that it will be one of the ways and methods to take a step further into our future.

A few weekends ago, I hosted a performance at Brantebjerg Gallery in Northern Zealand. I was testing and showing the ruff outlines of a new idea and concept, which I have been working on lately. It was about getting rid of the basic structure of a meal and making the attendants realize that food is a lot more than just food. Initially I wanted to get the audience to feel that they were part of a normal eating session. The table was set and ready at five o’clock and the guest was invited in a group of six people at the time. The meal was designed in a circular system that contained eight courses in total, that would continue to be served until all the guests had had their experience. The dishes was served at a 2 minute rate on the same plate and were all designed to be eated after another. After the first guests had had their 8 different tastes, some would realize that they were part of a circle and some not. That would create the situation that I wanted. Suddenly the table was filed up with guests that were eating the same, but experiencing different tastes and finding themselves in different courses. If you compare this to a normal meal, some would be eating starters while some dessert and so on. I will definitely use this method again and are super exited to learn more and go deeper in to this concept.

Tasty food gives us hope!

I'm A Kombo — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:09:24 +0000

Tasty food gives us hope! Hopenhagen 10/12/09. It´s been busy as… One of the past two months many events was obviously something related to the climate conference. We were asked to create an dinner for a bunch of young global leaders. I never figured who these leaders where, but they were all good fun and seemed very happy about their food… The dinner was of course very green, very organic and held a social aspect in the way it was consumed, so that the leaders could keep up their networking.