Fluorescent Goodbyes from a Grey City

“How’s your Danish after all these years?”

“Det er ikke så godt,” I would reply — with surprising confidence.
That’s because I rehearsed that sentence for the last seven years.

People in Denmark are kind, but they’re also famously reserved. There’s no small talk, no unnecessary interaction. There’s a deep respect for personal space and the unspoken rules of coexisting peacefully. This energy can feel a bit grey at times — not just in weather, but in energy and in the way people keep to themselves.

But beneath that muted surface, I’ve lived some of the most vivid, colourful moments of my life here — and that contrast is exactly what inspired me to create these fluorescent Riso prints as a way to say goodbye.

Why Riso?

I had always admired Riso printing from afar — the bold colours, the textures, the way every print feels alive in its imperfection. Originally developed in Japan during the 1980s as an office duplicator, the Risograph was never meant to be an art tool. But artists everywhere fell in love with it.

With soy-based inks and a layered stencil process, it’s sustainable, unpredictable, and strangely emotional. The fluorescent pinks and electric blues — especially on soft paper — feel like little bursts of joy. Exactly what I wanted as a parting gift to this city.

A Small, Special Collection

Each piece in this very limited collection is something inspired by my life in the Nordics. The prints are tiny editions — most with only 13 copies, a few with just 8, and even one that's truly one of a kind. All signed, all printed in Copenhagen, all a little “farvel” from me to the city.

I think we’re moving into a time where analogue art — the kind that smudges and overlaps and isn’t easily reproduced — will start to matter more. As the world gets louder and faster, we crave the opposite: slower processes, tactile objects, things we can touch and keep.

These prints are my small contribution to that.
And maybe, just maybe, a little fluorescent proof that even grey cities can glow.

With warmth from Copenhagen,

Simon