Stockholm Furniture Fair 2016: hot seats, young guns and the new Nordic guard
Scandinavia's leading design festival is always a well-anticipated event, boasting new products and fresh talent aplenty. This year, the sprawling halls of the Stockholmsmässan revealed a varied trove of launches this year, as design pilgrims from across the globe flocked to the 2016 edition of the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.
Welcoming visitors in from the cold was an installation by design duo Barber & Osgerby, who inherited the distinction of this year’s Guest of Honour from fellow London-based designer Ilse Crawford. Triptych recalls the pair’s impressions of Nordic winters, featuring animal hides and sheepskins draped across oak benches.
The installation was divided into three distinct areas, separated by felt screens produced by Nordifa and featuring furniture by the pair for Knoll, Vitra and B&B Italia. ‘Each space offers the visitor an environment for relaxation, meeting and working under a canopy of paper lanterns,’ say Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.
Inside the main halls, Atelier 2+ flexed its green thumb with a greenhouse for Design House Stockholm. Nearby, Klong was in the mood to entertain with a sideboard by Ania Pauser, and a drinks trolley by Broberg & Ridderstrale; Berlin-based design studio My Kilos presented the tastily inspired ‘Black Stracciatella’ collection; and Kullaro took a moment of reflection between the main halls, presenting an arched standing mirror.
Swedish designer Alexander Lervik’s name cropped up repeatedly throughout the halls, where he unveiled several new projects with a raft of brands including chairs, tables and a lamp for Tingest and a wall hanging system for Absolut Art. Outside of the fair, the omnipresent designer took over the windows of Stockholm department store NK with a kinetic installation of his new launches; inside, he presented a particularly memorable residential elevator for Aritco.
Elsewhere in Stockholm, Form Us With Love celebrated a decade of design at Sweden’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts; Wästberg joined forces with Massproductions for a new showroom in Hammarby quay; and Staffan Holm's sculptural glassworks stole the show at Designgalleriet.
Back at the fair, we stepped into the hot seat, with new chairs and sofas by the likes of Normann Copenhagen, Fritz Hansen, Lars Beller Fjetland, Articles, Gemla, Per Soderberg and more.
Other brands left a lasting impression by going big and bold with their stand design. Italian lighting stalwart Foscarini and Taiwanese design studio NakNak both vyed for the most Instagram-worthy booth at the fair, while Kinnarp invited us into their two-storey, mock house. Bolon tapped Doshi Levien for a stand that had curves in all the right places; while we gravitated towards Flos’ pitch-black stand in the main hall, where its lighting collection was presented sparingly across large containers.
The fair’s platform for new and emerging designers – the ever-popular Greenhouse – proved fruitful. Here, Stockholm-based studio Oyyo’s graphic textiles caught our eye. Canadian outfit MSDS Studio put a contemporary spin on 17th century designs with new collection ‘Source Materials’, while fellow Canuck Thom Fougere’s coffee table made from Tyndall stone was also noteworthy. It’s a promising sign of the shape of things to come.
INFORMATION
Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair ran from 9–13 February. For more information, visit the website
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