Kaktus København, Copenhagen

A new concept store brings quirky cacti of all shapes and sizes to Jægersborggade

27 August 2015

Blink and you’ll miss it: in the hustle and bustle of Jægersborggade street, taking up a single block in the riotous-turned-hip Nørrebro district in Copenhagen, is a tiny new space filled with cacti and succulents. Kaktus København (website currently in Danish only), open since May 2015, is run by three women: sisters Maja and Gro along with their closest childhood friend, Cille.

Though they took gardening classes together, they’re quick to point out they aren’t gardeners or botanic experts. They’re simply driven by an admiration and fascination for the prickly, introverted and artful works of nature. The three stumbled upon a “Cactusman” outside of Copenhagen who has been running a greenhouse for more than 50 years—and has a special collection of cacti and succulents. In turn, they were inspired to begin their own cacti collection which slowly took over their house (and windows).

“We quickly started the cactus adventure by filling up a van and driving around design markets, selling cactuses, and we realized that we weren’t the only one loving these amazing plants,” Cille tells CH. “We were lucky to get a nice store space at the lovely Jægersborggade street at Nørrebro in Copenhagen. The magic about this street is that there is a lot of concept stores door to door. You can find a shop selling only caramels, nitrogen ice cream, special Danish hotdogs and the best coffee in town.” Not to mention the art galleries, organic bakeries, vegan burger joints and more.

“[Cacti] fit very well into the Scandinavian interior as they are simple green sculptures and the simplicity is just perfect,” says Maja. “Another reason why they go so well with our lifestyle is that they don’t need much water and are simple to take care of—which means that you can allow yourself to vacation without returning to a dead plant.”

“It’s a real pleasure for us to run the shop and be around the cacti every day,” says Gro. “Almost all of our cacti are Danish-grown from our cactus man, and we like the weird quirky ones that have a very special look.” It’s this keen eye for design and the “quirky” that makes Kaktus København especially unique from other traditional plant shops.