Stockholm Design Week

daisypope
Feb 11, 2020
3 min read

As part of my Masters degree, I was lucky enough to go to Sweden to visit the Stockholm Design Week between 3rd - 8th February. I have never been to a Scandinavian country before so it was a great first experience. Let me show you some of my favourite things of the week, and why Stockholm can be considered so influential for Designers...

ArkDes - Young Swedish Design 2020

My first visit was to the ArkDes museum, which is an interesting mixture of art and design. The main design week exhibition was Young Swedish Design 2020 which consisted of a range of Graduate works ranging from anxiety inducing tapestries to sexual exploration objects... I also visited the Flying Planes exhibition that was about towers blocks, and the permanent art exhibitions.

The Young Swedish Design 2020

Flying Planes - I loved the patterns and colours of the illustrations below on the side of tower blocks, the organic shapes make a stark contrast to the industrial tower blocks, perhaps making them more beautiful?...

Permanent Exhibitions - The breeze block and foam benches intrigued me, being made from what is considered 'cheap' materials. The sculptures that welcome you outside the exhibition also make a bold statement!

Sway Gallery - Hironori Tsukue: 25 years in Sweden

For some fun, I went to the Hironori Tsukue show room to try out his famous 'Sway' stool. It was great to try out the prototypes, and I certainly felt uplifted when I left... I can see how this would induce positivity in the workplace.

The Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair

The main event - the furniture and light fair. I'm going to be honest and say I'm not the biggest fan of attending furniture fairs, don't get me wrong I appreciate good furniture design, but I'm not so interested in is as my passion is for products. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed discovering new trends at the show, there was an abundance of work place furniture, perhaps due to Sweden having such a wellbeing-focused work culture. There was a lot of greenery, workplace pods and noise buffers, and also chairs that can be rested on tables to hoover underneath...

The National Gallery

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the National Gallery, even though it was a whistle stop tour. The design week exhibition 'Breathing Colour' by Hella Jongerius was pretty thought provoking, colour should be considered more thoroughly perhaps within design, especially the affects that different lighting, environments and the time of day can have on colours. The exhibition was split in to morning, afternoon and evening, and you can really see the colours flow throughout the sections.

I particularly like the hanging sculptures, I'm pretty sure they were made from card/paper and were exquisitely made!

I walked through the Treasury and Discover Design! permanent exhibitions also, I really enjoyed the Discover Design! exhibition as it showcased some of my favourite iconic designs such as the Memphis bookcase, and also included a section on 'Design for All' which is my area of product design...

There was a gorgeous totem up the centre of a staircase called 'Venus' that I was drawn to due to the vibrant colours and mix of materials... I really enjoyed the colours of the paintings that are of Stockholm and the Northern Lights, very Scandi.

Calavera Workshop

To take home a unique and memorable souvenir I signed up for a Calavera Workshop. It was based in the Acne JR studio and shop which sells unique toys that are designed and made on site, as well as hosting many design/art workshops. I spent 3 hours painting a wooden Kranium, which is one of the iconic Acne JR designs. I was inspired by some of the paintings at the National Gallery and created a gradient background. I then decorated with paint brushes and paint pens to create the botanical look... It was incredibly enjoyable and relaxing, and a very memorable experience.

Bukowskis - Adjectives Exhibition

The Adjectives exhibition was probably one of my favourite. Created by Note in collaboration with Vibia, Mutina and Kvadrat, the exhibition is all about the relationship between space, light, colour, objects and materials. Some of the pieces were beautiful, My favourite would be two oil paintings, that were both of blue/green hues that faded into each other, and were almost luminous. The colours reflected differently when you moved around the paintings and your body also created a shadow which altered the colours and light further... I certainly left INSPIRED.

Well... what a great trip, I feel like I only scratched the surface of the incredible design that Stockholm has to offer. There are quite a few design districts, all of which are buzzing with inspiration, carefully curated restaurants and bars, as well as beautiful showrooms and exquisite views and architecture. I'll definitely be visiting again to soak up more of the Stockholm design culture.