In X-Works 2.0, five students design products for Lammhults

Deco table and Centim modular bench at Stockholm Furniture Fair

For X-Works 2.0, Swedish brand Lammhults invited five students to create products in their factory, that were then revealed at Stockholm Furniture Fair. Pictured left: ’Deco’ table, by Julia Prytz. Right: ’Centim’ modular bench, by Andrés Nilson

(Image credit: Julia Prytz, Andrés Nilson)

By Sujata Burman

last updated 31 October 2022

in Features

Swedish brand Lammhults appears to have found the answer to shaping the designers of tomorrow with their two-year-long project, X-WORKS 2.0.

Located in the southern Swedish city of Lammhult, the eponymous brand has taken pride in their Nordic craft since 1945. For this project, five students were invited to work on their skills in the brand's Småland factory, immersing them in 60 years of technique, rigour and tradition. Taking place over the course of a year, the five different designers each created a meticulous furniture piece to show during the annual Stockholm Furniture Fair last month.

The students were chosen from a pool of 26 at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. Julia Prytz, Andrés Nilson, Tuva Rivedal Tjugen, Vilde Øritsland Houge and Therese Hallberg all devised their products with the help of Lammhults' craftsmen, amalgamating the brand's style with their own unique aesthetics. The aim was to ‘find new talent, and to inject new blood into Lammhults’ solid design tradition’, the organisers explained.

All of the young talents bought a strong sense of personal vision to the table. For instance, Nilson used to be a professional athlete; Øritsland Houge is inspired by Norwegian designers Vera & Kyte; Rivedal Tjuge is a lover of nature; and Hallberg sees design as meditation and communication. By delving into their own worlds, Lammhults became intimately involved with their designs from start to finish.

The result is a broad range of projects, the innovation therein signalling a new direction for the brand via the mix of eclectic benches, room dividers and waste solutions. In particular, Öritsland Houge’s seesaw-inspired rocking seats and tables, and Hallberg’s trolley on wheels, were mutually playful concepts both rendered in Lammhults' typically fine tubular metal. Meanwhile, Prytz’s sculptural room divider and tables adopt a decoratively artistic yet strikingly abstract edge.

X-WORKS 2.0 explores an experimental side to Lammhults – steering away from a corporate market into an exciting next-gen design revolution.

Over the course of a year, they were immersed in Lammhults’ 60 years of technique, rigour and tradition, working with their craftsmen to amalgamate the brand’s style with their own unique aesthetics. Pictured: Vilde Øritsland Houge with her seesaw-inspired rocking seating and tables

Wooden bench — The students were chosen from a pool of 26 at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. Pictured: ’Diversity’ wooden bench, by Tuva Rivedal Tjugen who bases her design on nature

Boss wastepaper basket and RockIt Science table and stools. — Pictured left: ’Boss’ wastepaper basket, by Tuva Rivedal Tjugen. Right: ’RockIt Science’ table and stools, by Vilde Øritsland Houge

Therese Hallberg’s ’F35’ trolley is a playful design that utilises Lammhults’ fine tubular metal

Prytz’s sculptural room divider (’Juster’) and tables adopt a decoratively artistic yet strikingly abstract edge

INFORMATION

For more information on X-Works 2.0, visit the Lammhults website

Sujata Burman is a writer and editor based in London, specialising in design and culture. She was Digital Design Editor at Wallpaper* before moving to her current role of Head of Content at London Design Festival and London Design Biennale where she is expanding the content offering of the showcases. Over the past decade, Sujata has written for global design and culture publications, and has been a speaker, moderator and judge for institutions and brands including RIBA, D&AD, Design Museum and Design Miami/. In 2019, she co-authored her first book, An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which was driven by her aim to make the fields of design and architecture accessible to wider audiences.