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What began with handmade jewellery at a dining table has grown into SMYKBAR, an eight-location concept spanning Denmark, Norway and Germany, with more openings on the way. Named after the Danish word smykker, meaning jewellery, SMYKBAR helped pioneer the idea of the jewellery café, blending retail, creativity and hospitality in a format of its own.

Behind it are Noah Middelboe and Nina Middelboe, son and mother, who developed the idea without a blueprint to follow. From the outset, the ambition reached beyond jewellery itself, creating spaces for creativity, presence and social connection, while building a concept designed to scale.

What started as an intuition has since grown into a brand shaped as much by atmosphere as operations, with expansion considered from day one.

We met Noah and Nina at their new flagship café on Kompagnistræde in Copenhagen to talk about building a category, growing together and what continues to drive them.

Noah Middelboe & Nina Middelboe, SMYKBAR

If we go back six years to the beginning of SMYKBAR. Noah Middelboe is 15 years old, and the idea has just begun to take shape. What did you actually imagine back then, do you remember?

Noah:
“It really started with what was simply my passion, and I think that’s important to say. I spent a lot of time at home making jewellery and was extremely detail-oriented about it. I was deep into gemstones, materials, techniques, everything.

At that point, I wasn’t walking around with a dream of becoming a jewellery designer or building a company.

But once we came up with the idea of a jewellery café, that idea actually aligns very closely with what SMYKBAR became. So if I had to answer your question, I think I was already imagining something very close to what SMYKBAR is today. And that’s still the most surreal part of it.”

Nina:
“Shortly after we came up with the idea for a jewellery café, I lost my job. That meant I suddenly had six months of salary and, at the same time, a strong belief in the idea of creating a space, a café where creativity and community would be at the centre.

There was just something in me saying: this is the moment.

We were living on Frederiksberg in a fairly expensive apartment, I was a single mother of two, so it was quite a leap. But I remember very clearly that I genuinely believed this could become something great, if we did it properly from the very beginning.”

With all due respect, you were completely inexperienced in running a shop or a café. When did you realise this was actually a good idea?

Nina:
“The café on Gammel Kongevej was our first. In the beginning, I could run it on my own during the early part of the day, and then Noah would come after school. Every day I spoke with almost everyone who passed by.

I got to know both the area and the customers because I was there all the time. The turning point for me was when people started walking in who I didn’t know and couldn’t place from the neighbourhood.

I remember it very clearly, it felt slightly intimidating, but also like a sign that something was working. From that day on, I don’t think we ever really looked back.”

Noah:
“We essentially opened twice because of COVID. We were quickly hit by a lockdown, so the 21st of April 2021 almost feels like the real opening. During that period, we spent a lot of time refining what actually worked.

A good example is our social media, where we gained traction quite early on.

So we were very local, as my mother describes, but at the same time already expanding our reach digitally. From the very beginning, some of our TikTok videos went viral, which brought in tourists and a lot of unexpected attention.”

Nina:
“I really wish more people would dare to do it. We learned incredibly quickly, everything from replying to DMs and emails to building a website, serving customers and buying stock, all without much prior experience.”

What made you realise that SMYKBAR wasn’t just a local concept, but something that could be scaled?

Noah:
“It was actually the plan from the very beginning. It really was. But if I had to point to a specific moment, it would be late 2022, when we opened in Aarhus. That was when the concept truly had to prove itself in terms of scalability.

At that point, I could no longer just cycle between the stores in Copenhagen.”

Nina:
“That’s why we also rented a cheap Airbnb in Aarhus and lived there throughout the entire launch phase. It was important for us to get it properly up and running, so both employees and guests would have the same experience we knew from Copenhagen.

It worked quite well in terms of creating the right vibe in the store, but we quickly became pressured on the back-office side. For example, understanding what was selling and what was in stock, or not accidentally showing pieces on Instagram that weren’t actually available in Aarhus.”

Noah:
“We were essentially working around the clock, but everything we built was already designed with scalability in mind. That makes a huge difference today when we open new stores. The more control you have over inventory, pricing and those systems, the more confident you are in taking bigger steps. In other words, opening more stores. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

If we move to today, what does it look like now?

Nina:
“Overall, we still have the same areas of responsibility. We do many of the same things we did in the beginning. The difference is that we now have eight SMYKBAR cafés, with our most recent opening in Hamburg. At the same time, we’ve opened a new flagship in central Copenhagen, where we’ve also brought our office together.”

Noah:
“We’re now more than 120 employees, which is incredible. I genuinely feel proud when I see our colleagues on Instagram, even when they’re together outside SMYKBAR. That’s when it all starts to make sense in a different way.

Our employees mean a lot to us. They are a huge part of the experience and the universe we are trying to create.”

There is a clear sense of community at SMYKBAR. It’s easy to understand why people are drawn to it as a place to meet. But you also mentioned that more and more companies are now booking in.

Nina:
“The desire to go to SMYKBAR comes from a need to be together. That is really the core premise of why we exist. And there are many ways to do that, but conversation simply changes when you’re doing something creative at the same time.”

Noah:
“I really enjoy working with companies. In principle, almost anything is possible. We’ve become quite good at putting together different formats depending on what they need, while also having a strong sense of what actually works.

It’s a good way for colleagues to get to know each other better, have a good time, and bring some new energy into the working day. We’ve also used our spaces for launches — and we can take the concept outside of the cafés as well.”

What is the most difficult part of scaling a concept that is so heavily based on experience and atmosphere?

Nina:
“We have very clear markers for the brand, the curtains, the furniture, the high quality of materials, so we actually know quite well what we need when we open in a new country.

What we spend most of our time on is recruitment. Who do we believe can help create that ‘vibe’, and who will work well together?

Once a new team starts, we closely support them with experienced staff in the beginning so they can learn everything in practice. We don’t spend a lot of time on training before opening. I don’t really believe in ‘learning in the abstract.’”

Noah:
“At the beginning we were just using Messenger groups, but today we have an internal app with guidelines and a way of communicating across locations. That allows us to learn a lot from each other and makes the scaling process more agile.

At the same time, it helps build relationships between employees more quickly. When you have so many young staff members, it’s important to create a sense of security within that.”

Nina:
“And if I had to point to one of the hardest parts of scaling, it’s finding the right locations. We could have opened in more cities already, but it’s very important for us to choose the right sites.”

What is the ambition for SMYKBAR over the next 2–3 years?

Noah:
“We believe there can be a SMYKBAR in every major city. But as my mother says, there are many factors involved. The locations need to be right — in terms of placement, price, size, and so on. But we definitely want to keep pushing forward.”

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