Olson + Baker Visits Stockholm Design Week 2020

Olson + Baker attended this year’s stunning Stockholm Design Week. The event has become the most important week for Scandinavian Design each year. It is a meeting point for buyers, architects, designers, and the press. It also attracts influencers from all over the world.

Swedish Design
Carl Hansen & Søn
String Furniture
Normann Copenhagen Lighting & Furniture
Made to Stay Lighting
Fredericia Furniture
Northern Lighting
DCW Editions Lighting
Re Beds Furniture
Design House Stockholm Lighting & Furniture

The event took place in various venues across the city in early February. Venues included showrooms and galleries. Dinner and cocktail parties played their part too. As did museums and cultural institutions. We left with plenty of new ideas, contacts and lots of inspiration.

In Sweden, great design is more than a way of life. It’s almost a religion. Stockholmers like to refer to their home city as “skönhet på vatten” (beauty on water). It’s true. Stockholm is picture-postcard pretty with its medieval Old Town, Baroque Royal Palace and Belle Epoque boulevards. But underneath the historic overlay lies a modern capital oozing contemporary cool.

Swedish Design

Visitors here soon discover that Scandinavian design is more than aesthetic, it’s a way of life. What you can see are clean lines, organic textures and minimal shapes. This goes for the most modest cafés to the smartest boutiques and restaurants. Stockholm has cool hard-wired into its DNA.

Design inspiration

During Stockholm Design Week there’s a wealth of inspiration to be had, wandering through the streets, not to mention perusing the design stores and showrooms.

Sweden has a strong tradition of furniture making. It is a craft celebrated in the recently opened Möbeldesignmuseum (Museum of Furniture Studies). The Design Week coincides with the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair. Among the attractions were light and media installations.

Among the many inspiring sites we visited at Stockholm Design Week were:

Carl Hansen & Søn

At Carl Hansen & Søn, iconic design is a combination of aesthetics, simplicity, and functionality. The three come to life through the skillful work of craftsmen and women working with the highest quality materials.

For over 100 years, the designers here have specialized in bringing their visionary concepts to life. The story starts in 1908 when Danish cabinetmaker Carl Hansen opened his first furniture workshop on the Danish island, Funen. In the years since then, success has depended on two core ideas. The first is an uncompromising commitment to fine craftsmanship; the second involves working with other designers to reinvent and refine modern design.

One long-term relationship is with Hans J. Wegner. It began in 1949 when Carl Hansen’s son Holger took a chance on the then-unknown designer. Wegner then developed a successful furniture series that included the now-iconic Wishbone Chair.

The collaboration demonstrates what is achievable when innovative design and quality production meet.

It was in the 1950s that Wegner emerged as a driving force in the Danish Modern design movement’s international success. He is now Carl Hansen & Søn’s bestselling designer. Many of his works are modern classics. As such collectors throughout the world treasure his work.

Carl Hansen & Søn covets its reputation. This includes preserving Danish design classics coupled with representing influential new designers.

String Furniture

String Furniture has made its designs stand the test of time because of an uncompromising approach. They have stuck firm to a perfect balance between form and function.

They have refined and evolved their idea over time. This has ensured it has stayed in step with our changing times. As a result, the airy and light String® Shelving System has become a much-loved design icon. It is a shining example of timeless modern Scandinavian design.

The company is still refining its existing products. Swedish designers Björn Dahlström and Anna von Schewen have designed yet another new version of the String Pocket. This was first designed by Nisse Strinning. But the new interpretation of the original design is in metal. It is available in three colours: neon orange, taupe and white. The String Pocket in metal is an eye-catcher regardless of what room you place it in.

The design classic String System is also getting a new colour: warm brown. This complements the shelf colours that already exist. It also enables new combinations for this modular shelving system.

Normann Copenhagen Lighting & Furniture

Normann Copenhagen creates original and innovative products in simple, contemporary designs. This allows them to withstand the test of time. The aim is to challenge conventional thinking. The designers here make the ordinary extraordinary through great design.

Jan Andersen and Poul Madsen established the business in 1999. The Normann Copenhagen brand now encompasses a wide and growing collection. It includes lighting, textiles, and home accessories as well as furniture.

The products are available in more than 80 countries. They have collected over 80 design awards along the way.

Made to Stay Lighting

Swiss designer Peter Wirz, Swiss-Danish designer Carsten Jörgensen, and managing director Jürgen Henkel founded madetostay in 2017.

It came about because the trio wanted to bring meaningful values to the development of products. The aim is to make things better by scrolling back to the essentials of design. The approach is simple: recognise and question human behaviour and turn it into simple everyday things.

Fredericia Furniture

Fredericia Furniture has a proud heritage of unfaltering dedication to perfection. Owner and founder Thomas Graversen says simple principles guide the creation of modern originals. The business honours outstanding quality. It does this by careful selection of materials, adherence to functionality and attention to detail. The firm collaborates with a select group of international designers. Renowned for their exceptional level of design integrity, they share an ambition for beautiful contemporary designs that are intriguing.

Northern Lighting

Northern Lighting combines creative expression and traditional craft. The designers here couple pale beauty with rough-cut contrasts. The inspiration is sparking new directions for Scandinavian design.

Designers in the studios of Northern Lighting have been illuminating people’s lives for the past 12 years. They combine functionality with beauty and prefer to use natural materials and genuine craftsmanship. Furniture and interior accessories enable the team to express a characteristic style on a whole new scale.

Northern’s debut collection includes the best examples of simplicity. The creatives spell out their ambition with streamlined designs. They are memorable for being fun and combining elements that clash and contrast. With twilight colours, smoked wood, and strong silhouettes they create subdued moods. Classic sensibilities and subtle geometries add an elegant touch.

The approach here is to see interiors as flexible, creative spaces. The resulting multifunctional products couple style and spirit.

The reach goes beyond the business’s Norwegian heritage. It aims to meet the modern need for laid-back luxury and cutting-edge cool. Designs here are able to energise and inspire. They can also create a relaxing mood, or set the scene for soothing backdrops.

Designed to make any setting unique, Northern’s products want to add atmosphere while revealing a new vision for Nordic style.

DCW Editions Lighting

DCW Editions produces objects with roots that are in the past. But they are designed to be used in the present while having an eye on the future.

The objects share three aspects. They are not only well-conceived but also brilliantly designed and made. DCW’s products epitomise objects as companions to living well. The designers aim for the objects to last and act almost as a baton to be handed on from generation to generation.

Nostalgia does not drive DCW Editions. What matters is to produce objects that are true, honest and are able to stand the test of time. The collections, including Lampe Gras and In The Tube, are testaments to the business’s commitment to timeless objects.

Re Beds Furniture

At Re-Beds they believe that as the world around us changes, the craftsmanship should not. At their our manufacturing plant in Boeletvej up in the Danish Lake Highlands, they make each bed using traditional techniques. They put a huge effort into the process and consider its slow progress a valuable part of the way they work.

Nordic wood of finest quality makes the bed frames. This is processed. The project is planned. And the wood is sawed, milled, drilled and polished before being joined.

When it comes to upholstery every detail matters. Before it is upholstered in linen, cotton pads the frame. The process is demanding. The natural materials do not have the strength of conventional textiles. To meet this challenge, they rely upon long-standing experience. This is the reason they use some of Denmark’s best master upholsterers.

The mattress covers are made in sewing sheds. Precision ensures the organic cotton around the mattress forms a beautiful, protective surface.

A Re-Beds mattress is not made to standard measurements. It is tailored to the individual body. This is why they cut the natural latex and glue it with a purpose-made, eco-certified glue.

Design House Stockholm Lighting & Furniture

Design House Stockholm Lighting & Furniture sees itself as a publisher of design. This differentiates the business from the conventional producer. The Design House Stockholm works with designers like publishing houses work with authors.

Invitations are given to designers to bring their personal ideas. Designers are not simply selected to make a particular product. Some of these are selected for development and production. What Design House Stockholm is looking for is those products that add something new to their genre. The firm specialises in products with personality and character.

Conclusion

As you can see there was a lot of inspiring material to take in. Stockholm Design Week has long been a pioneer of innovation and experimentation. This year’s edition was no different. We met many buyers, architects, designers, and influencers from all over the world. It was a perfect opportunity to discover new impulses and broaden our network.

 

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