After the success of Atelier September, Danish chef Frederik Bille Brahe’s Copenhagen café, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the contemporary art museum of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts called on owner Bille Brahe to bring the vacant cafe space back to life. His answer: Apollo Bar & Kantine, which opened this past April.
Housed in the 17th-century Danish Baroque palace of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the cafe space was empty and mostly gutted, save for plastic painted walls and old laminate tables. So Bille Brahe and Rune Bruun Johansen, a longtime friend and antiques dealer, set out to redesign the interior with statues borrowed from the museum, Danish midcentury furniture, and a color palette inspired by the academy library. Here’s a look.
Photography by Mikkel Adsbøl courtesy of Apollo Bar & Kantine.
![the kantine is a casual everyday canteen for royal danish academy students and 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-11-733x550.jpg)
![the dining space has its original oak parquet floors, but bille brahe and 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-2-733x550.jpg)
![seating is made up of vintage børge mogensen 6\286 oak tables and j39 chai 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-frederick-bille-brah-11-733x550.jpg)
![detail of the hand branded \2\20;a\2\2\1; on the back of each vin 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-frederick-bille-brah-10-733x977.jpg)
![bille brahe in the canteen; lit by poul henningsen charlottenborg lamps th 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-frederick-bille-brah-9-733x502.jpg)
![the apollo bar is separate from apollo kantine—open morning through dinn 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-3-733x550.jpg)
![johansen designed square tables and banquettes in cherrywood that were bu 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-4-733x550.jpg)
![a series of custom handblown glass lamps were made by a local danish glassblowe 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-5-733x977.jpg)
![bille brahe and johansen planned to paint the base of the bar in black, bu 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-6-733x550.jpg)
![behind the bar is a pale yellow painted backsplash, glass and steel shelves, an 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-7-733x977.jpg)
![another sculpture borrowed from the museum sits atop glass bar shelving. 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-14-733x977.jpg)
![the barstools are piet hein for fritz hansen that johansen upholstered with blu 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-8-733x977.jpg)
![apollo is always evolving. “i don’t believe in \2\16; 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantine-copenhagen-13-733x977.jpg)
![the courtyard leading into apollo & bar and kantine at kunsthal charlottenb 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apollo-bar-kantne-copenhagen-exterior-733x536.jpg)
For more on Frederik Bille Brahe and other Copenhagen favorites, see our posts:
- Atelier September in Copenhagen: A Hot Spot in a Cool City
- Hay Kitchen Market: Artful Essentials from a Copenhagen Design Duo
- Restaurant Visit: The Musling in Copenhagen by Space Copenhagen
- Restaurant Visit: Fedtegreven Bistro Bodega in Copenhagen
- Daring Color Ideas to Steal from the Finn Juhl House in Copenhagen
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