Swedish Design 2.17 MB

facts about sweden | DESIGN
www.sweden.se
PHOTO: FRONT
The Front page magazine rack for Kartell captures the turning pages of a magazine.
DESIGN:
Swedish design knows no bounds
Diversity is the keyword of the Swedish design scene. Emotional values are now reckoned to be
as important as function in Swedish craftsmanship and design in general. Everything is tested
and retested, both aesthetic norms and traditional ways of working.
Swedish crafts have seldom displayed
the vitality or range of expression they
display today. You can find everything
from traditional crafts, with glass and
Sami handicrafts two of the most popular, to designers working with exciting
modern designs and materials.There are a
number of reasons for this diversity. One
is an attitude questioning established
approaches in the crafts that used to be
prevalent at Swedish craft colleges.
Modern Swedish designers
About ten years ago, more and more
students and recent graduates began to
shift their focus from a deep interest
in technology, materials and function
towards a new desire to tell a story with
the things they made, to use these objects
to comment on our times and their
own activities.
In the same process, commercial
culture and its various manifestations
were raised to an equal level with the
more traditional aesthetics of Swedish
craftsmanship, including the quest
for something seen to be genuine and
uncontrived. The boundaries between
design, art, fashion and the crafts became
more and more permeable.
Famous designers
Sweden has many talented designers
working worldwide for Swedish companies such as IKEA, H&M and
Sony Ericsson.
Others work under their own name,
for example the architects and designers
Claesson Koivisto Rune and Thomas
Sandell and the glass artist and designer
Ulrica Hydman-Vallien, who produces
ceramics, watercolors and textiles as well
as painted glass and acrylic paintings.
She has also decorated one of Sony
Ericsson’s cell phone models and British
Airways’ aircraft tails. n
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facts about sweden | DESIGN
www.sweden.se
A new generation of designers
PHOTO
: FRON
T
lamp, a life-sized horse with a lampshade on its
head, produced by Moooi.
In 2007, Front won the prestigious Designer
of the Future Award at Design Miami/Basel.
In 2010, they won the Swedish Elle Deco
Designer of the Year Award, the A&W Designer
of the Year Award and the Torsten and Wanja
Söderberg Prize worth SEK 1 million
(EUR 107,502/USD 150,404).
PHOTO: monica förster
A successful new generation is now following in
the footsteps of the established designers. The
designers Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von
der Lancken and Anna Lindgren together
founded the Swedish design group Front. Their
product design is based on experiences, discussions and experiments. Their best known
products include the Pig tray, a pig that makes
up the framework of a table, and the Horse
Horse lamp
by Front.
Focus on function
Infinite curiosity
TO:
PHO
Ergonomidesign
AB
Aurora by
Monica
Förster.
Monica Förster’s work is characterized
by a strong sense of pure form mixed
with infinite curiosity for new materials
and technology.
Her first design was a lamp that she
made at home in her kitchen with a
borrowed vacuum furnace. The lamp
was called Silikon. She also attracted a lot
of attention for her portable Cloud room
that can be inflated in minutes and used for
a meeting, concentration or relaxation, and
packs away into a carrying bag.
Monica Förster won the Wallpaper*
Design Award 2010, Best Centerpiece,
for her Aurora Candles for Liljeholmens.
The sculptured tall candle becomes a
burning work of art for the table.
The Ergonomidesign group has existed
since 1969 and has as its aim to develop
and design products that are based on
real needs and capabilities.
They work on everything from medical devices to strollers and cell
phones. In 2010, Ergonomidesign and Baby Björn won the Red
Dot Product Design Award for their
innovative, functional Bassinet
Harmony design. This is a children’s bed that
protects the child from sunlight
and insects and is easy to fold
up and travel with.
Ergonomidesign is exhibiting Spot, its new take on a
cane for the blind, at the
Why Design Now? exhibition at the CooperHewitt National Design
Museum in New York.
The cane is equipped
with artificial intelligence, enabling it to
Spot Blind
sense the environCane by
Ergonomidesign.
ment and lead the
blind person
better.
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facts about sweden | DESIGN
www.sweden.se
The molded Newton coffee table is
an example of how Swedish furniture
design has developed over the years.
The table, which won the 2009
Nordic design prize, was designed by
Staffan Holm and Dan Sunaga and
developed for Karl Andersson
& Söner.
PHOTo: kosta boda
Furniture design
in development
Glass feminist
PHOTo: Karl andersson & söner
In 2007, the glass-blower Åsa
Jungnelius began working for Kosta
Boda in the southern province of
Småland. Jungnelius is an artist who wants
to challenge prevailing taste and is sometimes called a ‘glass feminist’. Before she
started working for Kosta Boda, she made a
name for herself with objects such as huge
glass lipsticks with the aim of discussing
consumption. For Kosta Boda she designed
the Make Up series, nail varnish bottles
almost half a meter high in colored glass.
PHOTO: Patrik Lindell
The coffee table Newton by Staffan
Holm and Dan Sunaga.
Fredrik
Mattson's
lamp PXL.
PHOTO: fredrik mattson
Another bright idea
Another furniture designer who has
attracted a lot of attention is Fredrik
Mattson. He trained as a cabinet-maker
at Konstfack University College of Arts,
Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Since
2002, Fredrik Mattson has been running
his own design company with the focus on
furniture design. Among other things, he is
known for his brightly-colored PXL lamp,
which he designed for Zero.
Exhibiton stand 2010 by TAF for Stockholm Furniture Fair & Forum AID.
A subtle touch to ordinary objects
Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias
Ståhlbom have been running their
architecture and design studio TAF
in Stockholm since 2002.
TAF’s aim is to make ordinary life less
ordinary through subtle but
effective changes in how products and
architecture appear and function, for
example in everyday objects such as
tables, lamps and flowerpots.
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facts about sweden | DESIGN
www.sweden.se
PHOTo: norrgavel
for companies, organizations and the fashion industry and under its own label.
The Swedish clothes label Camilla
Norrback was founded in 1999 by the
Finland-Swedish designer Camilla Norrback. Her aim is to create sustainable
garments while maintaining her artistic
freedom as a designer.
Norrgavel was started up in 1993 by
Nirvan Richter and is operated from
a humanist, ecological and existential
point of view. The company sells furniture
designed by Richter and interior
fittings. It has a clear philosophy of sustainability and was the first company in
Sweden to be awarded the Nordic Ecolabel (Svanen) for home furniture.
In 1999, it was awarded Möbelbranschens Miljöpris (the Swedish furniture
trade’s environmental prize). This was
awarded in partnership with WWF. n
Furniture by Norrgavel.
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a major challenge for many
designers today. More and more Swedish producers are choosing to work on the basis of a deliberate environmental policy.
PHOTo: peepoople
Peepoo bag by Anders Wilhelmson.
Anders Wilhelmson, architect and
professor at the Royal Institute of
Technology’s School of Architecture in
Stockholm, designed the Peepoo bag.
Peepoo is a mobile toilet consisting of
degradable bioplastic with a thin layer of
urea on the inside. The urea starts a degradation process, raises the pH value and
kills bacteria, viruses and parasites that
may cause disease. The idea is for Peepoo
to be used in the enormous slum cities in
the Third World, where excrement
spreads disease and pollutes the water.
Dem Collective was founded by Annika
Axelsson and Karin Stenmar in 2004
with the aim of combining ecology,
ethics, quality and good design.
Dem Collective is now a textile brand
making clothes under good conditions
The Swedish design and innovation
studio Apokalyps Labotek was
awarded a prestigious prize in the
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2010.
Each year Wallpaper* Magazine
awards prizes to the best designs in
the world in a number of categories.
Apokalyps Labotek won in the Best
Recycling Design category for its
The Parquet floor, made of recycled
car tires.
PHOTo: Apokalyps Labotek
Swedish designers have come to work
more and more with sustainable development. This both adds value to their
products and boosts their international
competitiveness. The designer becomes
a natural link between producer and
consumer. In the long term, therefore,
good design solutions can contribute
to sustainable development.
Award winning
rubber floor
The Parquet Multicolor by Apokalyps
Labotek.
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facts about sweden | DESIGN
Wide range of design courses
DID YOU KNOW?
Swedish fashion
is big abroad
Sweden has no shortage of talented
fashion designers. The major ones
include the label Filippa K, founded in
1993 by the designer Filippa Knutsson.
Filippa K’s business idea is to design,
manufacture, communicate and sell
commercial fashion garments and
accessories with their own, timeless
style. Today Filippa K is sold in 20
countries, has 40 brand stores in
Europe and the US, and is represented
by more than 750 selected retailers
worldwide.
Sweden has many design and art colleges with good reputations.
The courses are very popular and places are in great demand.
Konstfack
One of the oldest art and design colleges
in Sweden is Konstfack, founded back
in 1844. The college is just south of
Stockholm city center and offers courses
at bachelor’s and master’s levels. It has
around 900 students and 200 employees.
www.konstfack.se
Umeå Institute of Design
PHOTO: cheap monday
one of
the 100 best
H&M has acquired the
Swedish denim brand
Cheap Monday, where
Ann-Sofie Back is
head designer.
She also works under
her own name and
has been listed as
one of the 100 most
interesting designers
in the world.
Umeå Institute of Design is a much
sought-after design college in northern
Sweden that provides four academic programs focusing exclusively on industrial
design and related specializations.
The college was founded in 1989
and has become established as one of
the leading institutions in the world in
its field, attracting students from all
over the world. www.dh.umu.se
Beckmans College of Design
PHOTO: Annika Aschberg
Another popular college is Beckmans
College of Design in Stockholm. The
college was founded in 1939 by Anders
Beckman, who was a pioneer in the
young Swedish advertising industry.
The students at Beckmans learn to rely
on their own imagination and creativity,
to develop their own personal style in
close cooperation with others, not only in
their own group but also students from
other disciplines at the college.
A large number of students graduate
every year and subsequently become
everything from art directors, designers
and fashion designers to illustrators, artists
and stylists. www.beckmans.se
The School of Design and Crafts
The School of Design and Crafts is part of
the University of Gothenburg. The craft
courses at the school include jewelry,
textiles and ceramics. www.hdk.gu.se
The Swedish School of Textiles
The Swedish School of Textiles in Borås is
very popular among students wishing to
study textiles. The school offers expertise
in all textile fields from craft and design to
technology, production, finance and marketing. www.hb.se/wps/portal/ths n
Important design organizations
The Swedish Society of Crafts and
Design—Svensk Form—is the oldest design
society in the world, founded in 1845, and
publishes the design magazine FORM.
www.svenskform.se
Svensk Form collaborates with the Swedish
Museum of Architecture in Stockholm to
promote the role of architecture and design
in society.
www.arkitekturmuseet.se
Knitted designs
Sandra Backlund is known for her
hand-knitted, oversized designs.
She has had her own label since
2004.She has attracted attention
on the international market and has
worked with people including Marc
Jacobs and Emilio Pucci.
www.sweden.se
The Tequila
Magnus de Brito designed the smart
kayak The Tequila, which won a Red Dot
Award in 2010. The kayak is unique in that
it can quickly be taken apart or converted
from a single kayak to a double kayak.
The Swedish Industrial Design Foundation—SVID—aims to improve awareness
within the private and public sectors of the
importance of design as a competitive tool
and to encourage them to integrate design
methodology into their activities.
Its target groups include industry and commerce, local government, designers, universities and colleges. SVID operates across the
country from its own regional offices and partner offices with a range of local players.
www.svid.se
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facts about sweden | DESIGN
www.sweden.se
Swedish design awards
did you know?
PHOTO: acne
With so many designers around, it is important to reward those
who really stand out. The awards are also considered to be significant for the development of Swedish design.
Design S
Jeans and furniture
The label Acne saw demand for
denim on the market and designed
100 different unisex jeans. The company was founded in Stockholm in
1996. Acne’s head designer Jonny
Johansson and his design team
create the design that is now familiar
worldwide. Their first furniture collection was presented in spring 2010.
It is in five parts and employs the
methods of their fashion design.
CableCup
Jonas Forsman’s and Lars
Wettre’s smart CableCup design has
enjoyed great success both nationally
and internationally. CableCup is
a user-friendly ceiling cup with a
smooth design for pendant lamps.
In 2010, CableCup won both the
Design S award and the international
Red Dot Award, also called the Nobel
Prize for designers.
The Swedish national design award
Design S rewards creative, innovative
problem solutions in various areas of
products, services and environments,
regardless of design discipline. It focuses
on “design for sustainability issues including climate, the environment, the welfare
of society and the long-term quality of
life.” The Design S award, which targets
professional designers and producers, is
announced by Svensk Form and SVID
every other year. Instead of prize money,
the nominees are rewarded with long-term
exposure, both in Sweden and worldwide.
This includes an exhibition that tours
the world, displaying products and processes. The aim of the award is also to inspire
the business community and decisionmakers in the public sector to use design to
boost growth, competitiveness and welfare.
www.swedishdesignaward.se
Stora Designpriset
The Grand Award of Design is another
prestigious award. It is presented annually
to successful Swedish companies and their
design suppliers. The aim of the award is
to highlight the important role played by
industrial design in product development
and profitability. The award is presented
by the Association of Swedish Engineering
Industries (Teknikföretagen) in collaboration with SVID and Svensk Form.
www.storadesignpriset.se
The Torsten and Wanja
Söderberg Prize
This award is presented annually by the
Röhsska Museum in Göteborg for “innovative, outstanding achievement in arts,
crafts and design” in the Nordic region.
The prize is worth SEK 1 million.
www.soderbergsstiftelser.se
Ung—Young Swedish Design
It is a distinction to be part of Ung
—Young Swedish Design, a recurrent
traveling exhibition of work chosen by a
jury. The aim is to highlight and reward
young designers. Special consideration
is paid to long-term sustainable
development and green thinking in
all processes in the projects.
The exhibition is a co-production by
Svensk Form, Stockholm Furniture Fair
and Form/Design Center.
www.ung8.se n
Other useful links
www.blasknada.se Blås&Knåda (Organization and gallery
with ceramics and studio glass)
www.designarkivet.se The Design Archive
www.designmuseum.se The Röhsska Museum of Fashion,
Design and Decorative Arts
www.formdesigncenter.com Form/Design Center
www.galleriingermolin.se Inger Molin Gallery
www.konsthantverkarna.se Co-operative of Swedish
professional craftsmen
www.kostaboda.com Glassware and art glass
www.lod.nu Metal design co-operative
Published by the Swedish Institute
Updated December 2010 FS 19
More facts can be found on
www.sweden.se
www.madeby.se Metal craft
www.moderadet.se Swedish Fashion Council
www.nationalmuseum.se Nationalmuseum/ National Museum
of Fine Arts (Swedish art and design)
www.nordiskamuseet.se Sweden’s largest museum of
cultural history
www.nutida.nu Swedish Modern Silver
www.platina.se Contemporary Swedish jewelry
www.scandinaviandesign.com Scandinavian Design
www.stockholmfurniturefair.se Stockholm Furniture Fair
www.sverigesdesigner.se The Swedish Association of Designers
Copyright: Published by the Swedish Institute at www.sweden.se
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