It’s hard to believe it’s less than a week since I was in Stockholm for Design Week. The main event is the Furniture and Light Fair, and for me the highlight is always Greenhouse, a showcase of recently graduated and independent designers. The standard is always incredibly high and this year was no exception. The space was created by Note Design Studio for the second year running. I spoke to Alexis Holmqvist and Johannes Carlström about their inspiration: “Exhibitors from all over the world pack up their stuff and set up camp here for a week. They meet and share ideas and that’s a really special thing. We used the camp metaphor and wanted to manifest a meeting point to gather around. We have indigenous people of Sweden, the Sami, and they make this type of structure, from birch and reindeer hide.”
The first thing I spotted once I started exploring the show set the tone perfectly! This is a chicken coop for balconies reflecting the trend for home food production designed by Anker Bak. The yellow ‘bars’ are made from elasticated string. It comes flat packed and can be assembled in just two hours. A regular 2 litre water bottle fits into the water dispenser and food is released as needed.
I also loved the Mildred stool, cushioned with either the blanket it comes with, or one of your own. Each project brief was just one word, and designer Monique Constentino was inspired by the word “Mild”.
Next, I wondered into a darkened room and was immediately captivated by Droplet by Malin Bobeck from the Swedish School of Textiles, part of a project exploring the use of light technology in textiles.
On the next stand, students from University of Gavle had been challenged to create contemporary designs using sustainable material, bamboo, as part of a project called Reboot. I loved this oversized lightshade.
I am always excited to see what Stenby Craft and Design school have been up to (last year‘s Goats on Furniture was particularly memorable!). This year they have created un-desirables, turning waste products into attractive furniture. Coiling The Unwanted is made by Juan Cappa from invasive species of water weed called vattenhyacinten that causes huge problems in Kenya.
While Svarstkar, designed by Hampus Penttinen, is made from flotsam rope from Kosterhavet, Sweden’s only marine park.
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts is another stand I always look forward to at Greenhouse. This year’s highlights were the above from Demeter Fogarasi…
…and the above by Timo Flott. Every year the students challenge perceptions about what it is that makes a chair a chair, and the results are always fascinating.
Students on the Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies course at Linkoping University collaborated with Svenskt Tenn, using veneer that is wasted in Svenskt Tenn product manufacturing to create products for them. Sebastian Hedengrahn said: “I made these two little greenhouses to have in your kitchen window.” And finally, a project by Alexandra Denton from Sweden and Sofia Lazzeri from Switzerland. Innesti combines glass and textiles into one tactile ornament.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- out and about :: home london 2014
- out and about :: coadg bursary at home london
- out and about :: east london design show
- out and about :: cornwall
