Designers Robert Hahn and Jacobo Cuesta Wolf presented Stop/Go, an exhibition exploring contemporary interpretations of the everyday doorstop, during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design festival. Staged at the Goethe-Institut Denmark, the exhibition brought together more than 20 objects created by independent and emerging German designers in response to a brief that challenged the conventional function and form of the familiar household object.
Since collaborating on design and curatorial projects in 2024, Hahn and Cuesta Wolf have developed a shared interest in overlooked objects and material culture. Consequently, they selected the doorstop as the conceptual foundation for the exhibition because of its universal presence and simple purpose.
“It is small enough not to dominate and at the same time familiar enough to be understood,” the duo explained. “A simple object, but also a good place to begin a conversation.”
As a result, the exhibition transformed an everyday utility into a platform for experimentation across sculpture, furniture and industrial design.
Material Exploration Defines the Collection
Among the participating designers, Alexander von Dombois created a doorstop composed of painted beechwood rings stacked in the manner of a children’s toy. Meanwhile, Anna-Lena Wolfrum produced a bottom-heavy conical form machined from ash wood, emphasizing balance and weight.
Philipp Witte approached the brief through historical reference by attaching a handle to a stone, evoking early curling stones. In addition, design studio BNAG, led by Oliver-Selim Boualam and Lukas Marstaller, produced a cast-metal replica of the generic doorstop symbol commonly used on Wikipedia and designed a stool with wedge-shaped feet capable of holding doors open.
Material efficiency also emerged as a recurring theme. Therefore, Martha Sophie Kikowatz used bent wire to outline the shape of a wedge, creating a lightweight object with minimal material consumption. Similarly, Mathis Hoseman formed his design from a single sheet of bent steel, while Kasper Kyster manipulated tension wire to shape steel into a shallow arc.
Other metal-based works included Studio Œ’s Smithy Doorstop, forged by flattening one end of a solid steel bar, and Florian Schregelmann’s Crossfit doorstop featuring a welded cross-shaped base. Meanwhile, Hahn and Cuesta Wolf contributed a design consisting of a cast-aluminum cone paired with a long wooden handle, while Tim Schütze combined larch wood with dolomite stone.
Several designers embraced more playful responses to the brief. Consequently, Silvio Rebholz and Paul Rees assembled a doorstop from books tied together with rope, while Studio Pond created a wedge inspired by the form of a clock.
3 Days of Design Highlights Everyday Objects Through Contemporary Craft
Till Seegräber and Justus Hilfenhaus explored cork through a circular non-slip wedge, whereas Karl Anton Schinkel developed a system for transforming found objects into doorstops by coating them in rubber and attaching handles.
Accordingly, Stop/Go highlighted the creative possibilities hidden within utilitarian forms. Furthermore, the exhibition underscored how contemporary designers continue to reinterpret familiar objects through craftsmanship, material experimentation and humor.
Presented alongside exhibitions dedicated to sewing-machine-made objects and sculptural furniture by Mater, Stop/Go contributed to the broader dialogue surrounding design culture during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design festival.
The photography is by Max Mendez, with set design by Amelie Schleifenheimer.
Stop/Go took place from June 10 to 12, 2026, as part of 3 Days of Design at the Goethe-Institut Denmark. The exhibition demonstrated how even the most ordinary objects can become vehicles for conceptual inquiry and contemporary design expression.