Himkok in Oslo unveils a menu that resists easy labels. Designed by Sipping seals a curious pact between cocktails and Scandinavian design, and has already sparked both an exhibition and an auction. Those two moments rarely pair with a drink list, proof of how fertile the encounter can be between industries that seem, at first glance, far apart.
Designed by Sipping, the New Cocktail List at Himkok
Founded in 2015, Himkok quickly won admirers through its exploration of Nordic ingredients and an ultra-short supply chain. Much is made in house, spirits included. Guests approved, the trade press did too, and The World’s 50 Best Bars list added the proverbial cherry on top: Himkok has appeared every year since opening. In the most recent edition, 2024, it reached No. 11. Even before this menu, Himkok had been building unexpected bridges—to music, fashion, and photography. With Designed by Sipping, the focus turns to design.
Translating Flavour into Form
For the project, the team turned to Studio Sløyd, the Norwegian practice founded in 2019 by Herman Ødegaard and Mikkel Jøraandstad. Sløyd refers to a Scandinavian school subject that encourages hands-on exploration of materials through woodwork and craft.
“With Designed by Sipping,” say Ødegaard and Jøraandstad, “turning flavour into form was a completely new challenge. Cocktails are fleeting by nature, so we approached each object with the aim of freezing that instant. As with good design, it comes down to balance, texture, and story. Working with Himkok gave us a way to explore how taste might live beyond the glass.”
Bar Manager Maroš Dzurus and Head of R&D Paul Aguilar add: “This collaboration let us widen how we curate the menu—no longer just something to read or taste, but something to touch and to experience from entirely new angles.”
The Drinks of Designed by Sipping
The list features 13 signature cocktails, each given tangible shape by Studio Sløyd. With local makers and materials such as glass, wood, and ceramic, the team created thirteen design objects. Some clearly functional, others more conceptual, all closely tied to their respective drinks. Shown in Oslo, these one-off pieces then went under the hammer.
Cherry reworks the Manhattan with bourbon, cherry liqueur, dry vermouth, dark chocolate, and a butter-washed distillate to finish. On the palate it unfurls with a velvety elegance of fruit, oak, and cacao—a sensory world that Studio Sløyd translated into a floor lamp that “embodies the depth and understated refinement of the drink.”
Another lamp pairs with Peanut, this time more compact: it channels the grounded, elemental nature of a dry, robust sip with marked nut tones. The recipe calls for vodka, sherry, vermouth, ginger, and a peanut distillate.
Plum blends aquavit, vermouth, plum juice, ginger, chocolate bitters, and vanilla bourbon to give structure and character, balancing tart, fruity, and spicy notes in the glass. Its companion object is more abstract than the two lamps: a minimal hook, discreetly functional, conceived to highlight the cocktail in its most polished expression.
A Drink List That Reaches Beyond the Bar
In the end, one image lingers: the Cherry lamp lit beside the counter, and a glass releasing traces of oak and cacao. This is where Designed by Sipping truly lands, turning the creations of the team into singular objects.
Photo courtesy of Himkok, credits Lars Pettersen e Shawn Arvind
