Federick
in Copenhagen
— Denmark

   “I’m a man for the beach, for hot climates”. Frederick is like a Viking who would never stop travelling. He’s the son of a diplomat, who lived with his family in Southeast Asia and then in Germany. As an adult, he resumed his wanderings: Hong Kong, Uruguay, Argentina, Honduras, Australia. “I have always felt the need to discover what other places in the world have to offer”. And they do indeed offer many things: food, drinks, music, culture - all things that mean a lot to Frederick. One can see at the entrance to his apartment a heap of worn-out All Stars, bearing witness to who knows how many departures and homecomings. Frederick and his Mexican-American fiancée have just had twins. They’re called Kioko Bowie and Siena Indigo. Perhaps these names say a lot about Frederick and his partner; or maybe the fact that they seem so remarkable names to me says something about my character as an Italian from the provinces. “Kioko is Japanese, and it means ‘he who shares happiness with the world’. Bowie is for David Bowie, in the hope that the name will give the child the force to be whoever he wants. Siena and Indigo are colors - one is the hue of the dawn in Tuscany, my favourite, and the other represents the midnight blue”. Frederick’s apartment is next to an old brewery, in an area of restaurants, parks, crafts shops and vintage dealers. What kind of work does a native of the world do? I ask him.

   “I have worked in Public Relations companies, but now I make spirits, liqueurs, and Danish aquavit - a type of alcoholic beverage from northern Europe, which has been produced for five hundred years. The problem is that it has a bad reputation today. People associate it with elderly drinkers, great-grandads, old-fashioned people. My challenge is to have it rediscovered by young people as a beverage that is part of our history, and a genuine, good, natural drink”. He hands me a business card; the logo is very handsome - a deer with big antlers emerging from a shield, the Danish flag, a crown, and nature. It makes you think of afternoons in an expansive countryside; or evenings in front of a fireplace in a lodge with cold wind and falling snow outside, shepherd dogs curled up in the warmth, a glass on which to slowly sip.

   How does a producer of such beverages imagine the future? “I like this old building, and its beautiful view, and I like the fact that there are many cafes and restaurants in the area. I have always enjoyed having life around me, and in Copenhagen you can live well. Above all, in the summer it becomes a totally different city. I would also like to enjoy a bit of life-on-the-beach, by the sea. I think that sooner or later we will set out again, because there is still too much world waiting to be seen”.