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Striped pillows. |
The Stockholm Furniture Fair and adjacent Northern Light Fair offered a comprehensive range of furniture, interior design and textiles for home and public environments. There were over 39,000 visitors to the main event, about 3% fewer than last year, but they were treated to many more new ideas, presented by 780 exhibitors.
One of the top attractions was the return of Jonas Bohlin, the respected interior designer and Professor of Design at Konstfack School in Stockholm.
At the Klong showroom, Bohlin presented new furniture for the first time in six years. These included a playful side table he called Spela, with a top resembling a tennis racket; a cupboard dubbed Koffert, inspired by old time travel goods; and a chair he called Skala, consisting of two cushions on a steel construction.
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| Spela from Jonas Bohlin. |
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Another exhibitor was Scandinavian/Asian company
Chen Karlsson, founded by Chen Yen-Wei and Chen Hung-Ming, along with Tina and Johan Karlsson.
It showcased a number of items, such as a ceiling lamp, called Favourite Things, and a porcelain bowl titled Bistro, based on traditional Chinese porcelain handicraft, combined with a shape inspired by European bistro tableware.
Swedish tradition meets high-tech
Furniture company Massproductions, which celebrated its first year in business, offered a side table, sold exclusively by respected store Svenskt Tenn in Stockholm.
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Sander Table from Massproductions. |
The piece was in glass, consisting of a handcrafted conical base attached to a hardened glass top, using altraviolet, cured adhesive. The glass cone was blown at
Reijmyre, a glass factory with a long and proud tradition of handcrafted glass.
This Sander Table was an experiment in purity. The design consisted of three concentric circles arranged in different planes.
Due to the transparent nature of glass, the whole object could be seen at the same time, so the table's surface appeared to hover over the glass cone base, said designer Chris Martin, Co-founder of Massproductions with partner Magnus Elebäck.
Fashion designer Paul Smith
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| Smith: admires simplicity. |
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This year's Guest of Honour was British designer Sir Paul Smith, invited to design a lounge, like the guests of past shows.
Best known as a fashion designer, Smith had also designed upholstery, textiles, furniture and other products. In 2002, he collaborated with Cappellini to create the Mondo collection and in 2003 he launched Bespoke, an upholstery textile for US textile designer Maharam. He also designed a collection of rugs for UK-based The Rug Company.
"We wanted to highlight the crossover between various design genres; fashion, interior design and furniture, and the fact that the world of interior design clearly finds inspiration in the world of fashion today. We also aimed to draw attention to the significance of the carefully thought-out profile that Paul Smith displays in his boutiques," said Cecilia Nyberg, Event Manager with the Stockholm Furniture and Northern Light events.
On being interviewed, Sir Paul Smith said he admired the Scandinavian reputation for simplicity. "I like the work of Claesson Koivisto Rune because of its wide scope of work, simple lines and use of colour. Also I find the work of Thomas Eriksson very interesting."
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Smith's characteristic stripes. |
Sir Paul has a reputation for being fascinated by stripes in his design work which he admitted had become his trademark.
Paul Smith boutiques indeed reflect his character and design; an unmistakable Britishness augmented by the unexpected.
Thirteen different Paul Smith collections are available in seventy five countries. Paul Smith shops are in Hong Kong as well as London, Paris, Milan, New York, Los Angeles and six other international cities.
Embracing the temporary
The task of designing the thematic Design Bar at the Stockholm Furniture and Northern Light Fairs in 2010 was awarded to Swedish architect and designer, Jonas Wagell.
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| Design Bar by Jonas Wagell. |
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He said he wanted to use simple materials to create an environment with grand expressions and a strong character.
"Trade fairs are temporary structures, hastily erected only to be torn down within days. Instead of building an environment that tries to be something more than it really is, I found an exciting challenge in embracing the temporary and creating a spatial presence with a glance at stage design and graphics," explained Wagell.
Designer Jens Fager was meanwhile tasked with designing Greenhouse, the Stockholm Fair's arena for independent designers and design schools.
The focus was on the exhibitor, and Fager took as his inspiration the design and geometry theories of the 1st Century BC Roman architect and engineer, Vitruvius.
Last year, Fager designed the installation for the press room at the Stockholm Furniture Fair, and he was also the inspiration behind the fair's graphic profile.
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| Playing with fabrics at the Greenhouse. |
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Design as geometry. |
Textile design through the eyes of students
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Students work on textiles. |
In the Greenhouse, students from the Konstfack School Textile Master Programme mounted a joint exhibition, taking as its theme that "textile gains its own life while fed by objects surrounding our daily life".
Students explored the possibility of using textiles in combination with other materials.
Milan-based Designboom visited the Fair for the second time. It's one of Europe's foremost online design magazines, and held one of its renowned Design Marts, a cross between an exhibition and a market.
At the mart, designers presented themselves and their work as part of an international design bazaar.
The +1 Award was presented by the architecture and design magazine Forum, and this year the winner was German design, duo Osko + Deichmann for its Straw Chair, produced by Swedish furniture company Blå Station. The judge was Swedish furniture designer, Alexander Lervik.
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| Designboom Mart shows unusual designs. |
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Tree2, as seen in the Green display. |
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| Leaf Lamp by Peter Schumacher. |
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For the second year, the Green Furniture Award was awarded by company Green Furniture Sweden, a new challanger in furniture production. The winners were chosen from criteria such as choice of basic materials, production methods and the ability to design furniture that tells a green story as well as offering outstanding sustainable design.
This year the top prize was awarded for a sustainable lamp, Leaf Lamp, designed by Australian Peter Schumacher. Closely resembling the way nature itself designs, the lamp had a harmonious and natural shape based on simple principles.
Its trunk and branches were made from rounded birch parts, with wedged ends that were joined without glue. The leaves were made from thin, unbleached and starched wool, a 100% natural mix that ships as a flat package.
The "tree" radiated its energy through the foliage, powered by warm LED or induction bulb, that provides a soft and natural form of light.
Second prize was awarded for a sustainable furniture item, Block Shelf, designed by UK firm, Amy Hunting. Using a mix drawn from the wood flooring industry, the shelf was a true testimony to recycling.
The Stockholm Furniture and Northern Light fairs ran 9 through 13 February and are to be held next year from 8 to 12 February.
from special correspondent Willeam Vendel, Stockholm
