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DESIGN WEEK

The official Stockholm Design Week exhibition Moving Forward at the NK department store.
September 2022

 

Stockholm, my second hometown. It’s been a long time since I was last there, with the pandemic and all. This past week I finally returned and for some joyful reunions with colleagues and the city itself.

I saw many things during my stay, and some of it I would like to share:

My first stop was the official Stockholm Design Week exhibition Moving Forward at the NK department store. The exhibition, which was curated by Norwegian Kråkvik&D’Orazio, showed a mix of autumn news from established companies and studio productions from up-and-coming designers.
Many design firms, Danish as well as Swedish, are currently showing ‘lumpy’ designs with 1970s references, and this show was no exception.
Perhaps the most surprising element was a fairly delicate unique cabinet with intarsia, designed by Thomas Sandell and produced by KFK Snickeri.

Among the heavier furniture designs was a black room divider/shelving unit by Verk.

Pigments from VERK

I visited Verk in the company’s shop and showroom at Hornsgatan 79.

A fairly young company, Verk relies on local production (including furniture factories in the Småland region) and local materials.

The company’s main focus is on furniture, but what they launched during Design Week was not a piece of furniture but instead pigments extracted from the Swedish underground. I am a fan of their concept.

Speaking of colours, the Småland company Stolab celebrated the 80th anniversary of Carl Malmsten’s chair Lilla Åland. The event was marked by the launch of a series of numbered Lilla Åland chairs finished with smoked oak oil and the presentation of four unique, very colourful chairs in a colour range designed by Sara Garanty, a colour expert and agitator in the Swedish design scene, which is otherwise characterized by a fairly muted expression.

The unique chairs will be sold at auction, the proceeds going to reforestation. The numbered ‘smoked’ chairs are available from furniture shops.

Carl Malmsten’s chair Lilla Åland

Rosendals Trädgård at Djurgården has a big place in my heart. To my great luck, I had occasion to spend a few mid-morning hours here because the poster exhibition Woodlife Sweden, about timber construction, was on display at the bottom of the apple orchard.

To summarize, the only good reason to build in wood is if the intended structure has some height to it. I learned that while I was working on HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 7, in part based on an interview with Vandkunsten Architects.

If you would like to know more about timber construction, I warmly recommend the book WOOD Vandkunsten Architects from Stockholm-based A+O Publishing. (The book is also available in Danish, from the Danish Architectural Press)

During my visit, I also met up with A+O Publishing. In addition to publishing books on design, art and architecture, the company also acts as a distributor, including representing HÅNDVÆRK bookazine to bookshops and design shops internationally. I am looking forward to this new partnership.

In HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 7, I write about the Paris-based Swedish fashion designer Lars Nilsson and his collaboration with the linen weaving mill Klässbols Linneväveri. Lars Nilsson also designs products for a number of Swedish interior firms, including the exclusive rug weaving company Vanda Rugs, whose collection is based on design collaborations. Vanda Rugs is run by two Swedish and a Ukrainian woman. When I was in contact with them a few months ago, everything was uncertain. The weaving mill was located in the region of Ukraine that is hardest hit by the war. Thanks to the company’s local partner, her network and her courage and thanks to support from her two Swedish partners, the weaving mill and the weavers have now been relocated to western Ukraine and are busy at work delivering rugs to Sweden and the rest of the world. This means the weavers have a job and an income, so they can provide for their children, and both women and children are relatively safe in this perilous time.

In bookazine 7, I also write about covering stair railings in leather. They have a leather-covered railing at Svenskt Tenn at Strandvägen, which is a regular stop whenever I come to Stockholm.

This time I went there to see the lavish exhibition Frankly Yours, in which the Joseph Frank textile ‘Vegetable Tree’ is staged by French architect and interior designer India Mahdavi. An absolute colour extravaganza.

At Torsgatan 65 in Vasastan I looked at textiles at Studio Maria Löv. Over the years, she has created designs for a large number of textile companies. During Stockholm Design Week, she launched her hand-drawn pattern ‘Concept Trompe l’oeil’ under her own name. She has the pattern printed at an OEKO-TEX-certified Danish printing company on three different fabric qualities, all of which are approved for the contract market. Beautiful.

Projektrum Augsburg at Vasagatan 25 is based on the work of cabinetmaker Thomas Tempte

(1942–2016). The exhibition presents both Tempte’s works and his many self-built tools. It also functions as a workspace for Andreas Nobel, professor of furniture design at Carl Malmstensskolan, Malmstens Linköping University. He and a colleague are working on a book about Thomas Tempte.

Andreas Nobel showed me round the exhibition, and as the last item in this tour, he showed me a rather rough-hewn table. It has cracks and knots but is delicately and meticulously made. This table combines both Tempte’s and my own ideas about working in wood, he said. You need to give up the pedantry, but you also have to do your best.

I agree!

Folkform and the Belgian rug company Louis De Poortere

Dahl Agenturer, located just round the corner at Ostra Järnvägsgatan 23, had also done their best.

They presented the project ‘The Blue Tapestries’, a collaboration between the Stockholm-based design duo Folkform and the Belgian rug company Louis De Poortere that came about at the initiative of Dahl Agenturer.
The joint project has resulted in a new type of rugs that can be either hung on the wall or used on the floor. The samples on display were woven in indigo. In the adjacent room, the technique is shown in a whole range of colours, And of course we will have them all, says Linda Dahl, who gets goosebumps talking about how amazing it was to follow the project from the initial idea to the finished product. Naturally, everyone involved in the project is rightly proud.

I concluded my week-long stay with a visit to the Museum of Furniture Studies at Magasin 6, Frihamnsgatan 50 (in Frihamnen, the old Freeport area).

The museum was founded in 2018 by the architect couple Kersti Sandin and Lars Bülow based on their own private collection – an impressive and interesting one.
From 3 September to 16 October 2022, the permanent collection is supplemented with graduation projects from five Swedish furniture design schools.

I warmly recommend a visit to the Museum of Furniture Studies, ideally in combination with a visit to the nearby art centre Magasin 3.

Stockholm, min hjemby nummer to. Det er længe siden, jeg har været hjemme sidst – pandemi og sådan. I forgangne uge tog jeg revanche, og dagene bød på glædelige gensyn med både by og branchekolleger.

Jeg har set meget, noget af det vil jeg gerne dele:

Mit første stop var Stockholm Design Weeks officielle udstillingen ”Moving Forward”

i Stormagasinet NK. Udstillingen, som var kurateret af norske Kråkvik&D’Orazio, viste en blanding af etablerede virksomheders efterårsnyheder og studioproduktioner fra mindre up and coming designere.
Mange designvirksomheder, både danske og svenske, viser i disse år ”klumpede” designs med 70er referencer, udstillerne her var ingen udtagelse.
Det måske mest overraskede element var et relativt spinkelt unikaskab med intarsia, tegnet af Thomas Sandell, og produceret på KFK Snickeri.

Blandt de tunge møbler sås en sort rumdeler/reol fra Virksomheden Verk

Verk besøgte jeg i deres butik/showroom på Hornsgatan 79.

Der er tale om en relativt ung virksomhed. Verk baserer sit virke på lokal produktion (smålandske møbelfabrikker blandt andet) og lokale materialer.

Hovedvægten lægger de på møbler, men under Design Week var nyheden ikke et møbel, men farvepigmenter udvundet af svensk undergrund. Jeg er fan af deres koncept.

Tale om farver- Smålandske Stolab fejrede 80-års jubilæum for Carl Malmstens stol ´Lilla Åland´. Det gjorde de, dels ved at udkomme med en serie nummererede Lilla Åland indfarvet i faven ´røget eg´, dels ved at præsentere fire unikke meget farvestrålende stole, farvesat af Sara Garanty. Hun har etableret sig som farveekspert og agitator på den i øvrigt, farvemæssigt, relativt afdæmpede svenske designscene.

Unikastolene bliver solgt på auktion, det indkomne beløb går til skovplantning. De ´røgede stole´, som er nummererede, kan købes i helt almindelige møbelbutikker.

Rosendals Trädgård på Djurgården har en stor lads i mit hjerte. Til mit held, for så var der en anledning til at spendere et par formiddagstimer på Djurgården, var plancheudstillingen Woodlife Sweden, om at bygge i træ, placeret bagerst i æblehaven.
Lad mig sammenfatte det således, der er kun gode grunde til at bygge i træ, selv når man skal bygge i højden. Det forstod jeg allerede under vejs i mit arbejde med HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 7, blandt andet gennem et interview med tegnestuen Vandkunsten.

Vil du mere end snuse til at bygge i træ, kan jeg varmt anbefale bogen ”TRÆ Vandkunsten Arkitekter”, udgivet på Stockholm forlaget A+O Publishing. (fås med både dansk og engelsk tekst)

A+O Publishing traf jeg også på min tur. Foruden at udgiver bøger om design, kunst og arkitektur, er de også distributører, fremover distribuerer de HÅNDVÆRK bookazine internationalt til boghandlere og designbutikker. Det samarbejde glæder jeg mig til.

I HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 7 skriver jeg om den svenske, Parisbaserede modedesigner Lars Nilsson og hans samarbejde med Klässbols Linneväveri. Samme Lars Nilsson har tegnet for flere svenske interiørvirksomheder, blandt andet for den højtprofilerede tæppevirksomhed Vanda Rugs, som baserer deres kollektion på designsamarbejder. Vanda Rugs drives i fællesskab af to svenske og en ukrainsk kvinde. Da jeg var i kontakt med dem for nogle måneder siden var alt uvist. Væveriet har været etableret i den del af Ukraine som er hårdest ramt af krigen. Takket være den lokale partner, hendes netværk og ukuelighed, og takket være support fra hendes to svenske partnere, er væveriet og væverne nu flyttet til det vestlige Ukraine, og er i fuld sving igen. Tæppeleverancerne til Sverige og resten af verden er genoptaget. Væverne har dermed en hverdag og en indtægt, hvilket betyder at deres børn er forsørgede, og kvinder og børn er i relativ sikkerhed i en usikker tid.

Top left Studio Maria Löv, other pictures are from Projektrum Augsburg

Jeg skriver også i bookazine 7 om at bevikle gelændere med skind. Sådanne gelændere har de hos Svenskt Tenn på Strandvägen, som er et fast indslag på min Stockholm runde.

Denne gang var jeg i butikken for at se den ekstravagante udstilling ´Frankly Yours´- Joseph Frank tekstilet ´Vegetable Tree` iscenesat af franske arkitekt og interiør designer India Mahdavi. Her spares ikke på farverne.

På Torsgatan 65 i Vasastan så jeg tekstiler hos Studio Maria Löv. Hun har gennem årene tegnet for en lang række tekstilvirksomheder. Under Stockholm Design Week lancerede hun i eget regi det håndtegnede mønster ´Concept Trompe l`oeil´. Mønstret får hun trykt på et OEKO-TEX-certificeret dansk trykkeri, på tre forskellige stofkvaliteter, alle er godkendt til kontraktmarkedet. Smukt.

Projektroom Augsburg på Vasagatan 25, tager udgangspunkt i snedkermester Thomas Temptes (1942 – 2016) virke. Udstillingen viser både Temptes arbejder, men også hans mange egenbyggede værktøjer. Den fungerer samtidig som arbejdsrum for professor i møbeldesign fra Carl Malmstensskolan, (Malmstens Linköpings universitet), Andreas Nobel. Han og en kollega er i gang med en portrætbog om samme Thomas Tempte.

Andreras Nobel viste mig rundt i udstillingen, som det sidste inden jeg gik, viste han mig et ganske groft bord. Bordet har revner og knaster, men er spinkelt og sirligt forarbejdet. ”Det bord sammenfatter både Temptes og mine tanker om at arbejde i træ”, fortalte han. Man skal slippe pedanteriet, til gengæld skal man gøre sig umage.

Enig!

Museum of Furniture Studies

Umage havde de også gjort sig hos Dahl Agenturer rundt om hjørnet på Ostra Järnvägsgatan 23.

De præsentede projektet ´The Blue Tapestries´ et samarbejde mellem Stockholmbaserede designduo Folkform og den Belgiske tæppevirksomhed Louis De Poortere, initieret af Dahl Agenturer.
Samarbejdet har resulteret i en helt ny type tæpper som både kan væghænges og lægges på gulvet. Udstillingseksemplarerne er vævet i indigoblå, i det tilstødende lokale kan man se teknikken vævet op i en lang række farver, ”vi vil jo have dem alle” forklarede Linda Dahl, som får kuldegysninger, når hun taler om hvor fantastisk det har været at følge projektet fra første ide, til færdigt produkt. Alle involverede er med rette stolte.

Min uge sluttede med besøg på Möbeldesignmuseum, Magasin 6, Frihamnsgatan 50 (i Frihavnen).

Museet blev etableret i 2018 af arkitektparret Kersti Sandin og Lars Bülow, og bygger på deres private samling.

En imponerende og interessant samling.
3 september – 16 oktober 2022 er den faste samling suppleret med afgangsprojekter fra fem forskellige svenske møbeldesignskoler.

Et besøg Möbeldesingmuseet kan varmt anbefales og kan med fordel kombineres med besøg på den nærliggende kunsthal Magasin 3.

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