The Front page magazine rack for Kartell captures the turning pages of a magazine. Photo: Front
Swedish crafts have seldom displayed the vitality or range of expression they display today. You can find everything from traditional crafts, with glass and Sami handicrafts two of the most popular, to designers working with exciting modern designs and materials.There are a number of reasons for this diversity. One is an attitude questioning established approaches in the crafts that used to be prevalent at Swedish craft colleges.
Modern Swedish designers
About ten years ago, more and more students and recent graduates began to shift their focus from a deep interest in technology, materials and function towards a new desire to tell a story with the things they made, to use these objects to comment on our times and their own activities.
In the same process, commercial culture and its various manifestations were raised to an equal level with the more traditional aesthetics of Swedish craftsmanship, including the quest for something seen to be genuine and uncontrived. The boundaries between design, art, fashion and the crafts became more and more permeable.
Famous designers
Sweden has many talented designers working worldwide for Swedish com-panies such as IKEA, H&M and Sony Ericsson.
Others work under their own name, for example the architects and designers Claesson Koivisto Rune and Thomas Sandell and the glass artist and designer Ulrica Hydman-Vallien, who produces ceramics, watercolors and textiles as well as painted glass and acrylic paintings. She has also decorated one of Sony Ericsson’s cell phone models and British Airways’ aircraft tails.
A new generation of designers
A successful new generation is now following in the footsteps of the established designers. The designers Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken and Anna Lindgren together founded the Swedish design group Front. Their product design is based on experiences, discussions and experiments. Their best known products include the Pig tray, a pig that makes up the framework of a table, and the Horse lamp, a life-sized horse with a lampshade on its head, produced by Moooi.
Horse lamp by Front.
Photo: Front |
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In 2007, Front won the prestigious Designer of the Future Award at Design Miami/Basel.
In 2010, they won the Swedish Elle Deco Designer of the Year Award, the A&W Designer of the Year Award and the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize worth SEK 1 million (EUR 107,502/USD 150,404).
Focus on function
The Ergonomidesign group has existed since 1969 and has as its aim to develop and design products that are based on real needs and capabilities.
They work on everything from medical devices to strollers and cell phones. In 2010, Ergonomidesign and Baby Björn won the Red Dot Product Design Award for their innovative, functional Bassinet Harmony design. This is a children’s bed that protects the child from sunlight and insects and is easy to fold up and travel with.
Ergonomidesign is exhibiting Spot, its new take on a cane for the blind, at the Why Design Now? exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. The cane is equipped with artificial intelli-gence, enabling it to sense the environment and lead the blind person better.
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Spot Blind Cane by Ergonomidesign.
Photo: Ergonomidesign AB |
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A subtle touch to ordinary objects
Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom have been running their architecture and design studio TAF in Stockholm since 2002.
TAF’s aim is to make ordinary life less ordinary through subtle but effective changes in how products and architecture appear and function, for example in everyday objects such as tables, lamps and flowerpots.
Exhibiton stand 2010 by TAF for Stockholm Furniture Fair & Forum AID.
Photo: Patrik Lindell
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a major challenge for many designers today. More and more Swedish producers are choosing to work on the basis of a deliberate environmental policy.
Swedish designers have come to work more and more with sustainable devel-opment. This both adds value to their products and boosts their international competitiveness. The designer becomes a natural link between producer and consumer. In the long term, therefore, good design solutions can contribute to sustainable development.
Anders Wilhelmson, architect and professor at the Royal Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture in Stockholm, designed the Peepoo bag. Peepoo is a mobile toilet consisting of degradable bioplastic with a thin layer of urea on the inside. The urea starts a degradation process, raises the pH value and kills bacteria, viruses and parasites that may cause disease. The idea is for Peepoo to be used in the enormous slum cities in the Third World, where excrement spreads disease and pollutes the water.
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Peepoo bag by Anders Wilhelmson.
Photo: Peepoople |
Dem Collective was founded by Annika Axelsson and Karin Stenmar in 2004 with the aim of combining ecology, ethics, quality and good design. Dem Collective is now a textile brand making clothes under good conditions for companies, organizations and the fashion industry and under its own label.
The Swedish clothes label Camilla Norrback was founded in 1999 by the Finland-Swedish designer Camilla Norrback. Her aim is to create sustainable garments while maintaining her artistic freedom as a designer.
Norrgavel was started up in 1993 by Nirvan Richter and is operated from a humanist, ecological and existential point of view. The company sells furniture designed by Richter and interior fittings. It has a clear philosophy of sustainability and was the first company in Sweden to be awarded the Nordic Eco-label (Svanen) for home furniture.
Furniture by Norrgavel. Photo: Norrgavel
In 1999, it was awarded Möbelbranschens Miljöpris (the Swedish furniture trade’s environmental prize). This was awarded in partnership with WWF.
Wide range of design courses
Sweden has many design and art colleges with good reputations. The courses are very popular and places are in great demand.
Konstfack
One of the oldest art and design colleges in Sweden is Konstfack, founded back in 1844. The college is just south of Stockholm city center and offers courses at bachelor’s and master’s levels. It has around 900 students and 200 employees.
www.konstfack.se
Umeå Institute of Design
Umeå Institute of Design is a much sought-after design college in northern Sweden that provides four academic programs focusing exclusively on industrial design and related specializations.
The college was founded in 1989 and has become established as one of the leading institutions in the world in its field, attracting students from all over the world.
www.dh.umu.se
Beckmans College of Design
Another popular college is Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. The college was founded in 1939 by Anders Beckman, who was a pioneer in the young Swedish advertising industry.
The students at Beckmans learn to rely on their own imagination and creativity, to develop their own personal style in close cooperation with others, not only in their own group but also students from other disciplines at the college.
A large number of students graduate every year and subsequently become everything from art directors, designers and fashion designers to illustrators, artists and stylists.
www.beckmans.se
The School of Design and Crafts
The School of Design and Crafts is part of the University of Gothenburg. The craft courses at the school include jewelry, textiles and ceramics.
www.hdk.gu.se
The Swedish School of Textiles
The Swedish School of Textiles in Borås is very popular among students wishing to study textiles. The school offers expertise in all textile fields from craft and design to technology, production, finance and marketing.
www.hb.se/wps/portal/ths
Important design organizations
The Swedish Society of Crafts and Design—Svensk Form—is the oldest design society in the world, founded in 1845, and publishes the design magazine FORM.
www.svenskform.se
Svensk Form collaborates with the Swedish Museum of Architecture in Stockholm to promote the role of architecture and design in society.
www.arkitekturmuseet.se
The Swedish Industrial Design Foundation—SVID—aims to improve awareness within the private and public sectors of the importance of design as a competitive tool and to encourage them to integrate design methodology into their activities.
Its target groups include industry and commerce, local government, designers, universities and colleges. SVID operates across the country from its own regional offices and partner offices with a range of local players.
www.svid.se
Swedish design awards
With so many designers around, it is important to reward those who really stand out. The awards are also considered to be significant for the development of Swedish design.
Design S
The Swedish national design award Design S rewards creative, innovative problem solutions in various areas of products, services and environments, regardless of design discipline. It focuses on “design for sustainability issues including climate, the environment, the welfare of society and the long-term quality of life.” The Design S award, which targets professional designers and producers, is announced by Svensk Form and SVID every other year. Instead of prize money, the nominees are rewarded with long-term exposure, both in Sweden and worldwide.
This includes an exhibition that tours the world, displaying products and pro-cesses. The aim of the award is also to inspire the business community and decision-makers in the public sector to use design to boost growth, competitiveness and welfare.
www.swedishdesignaward.se
Stora Designpriset
The Grand Award of Design is another prestigious award. It is presented annually to successful Swedish companies and their design suppliers. The aim of the award is to highlight the important role played by industrial design in product development and profitability. The award is presented by the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen) in collaboration with SVID and Svensk Form.
www.storadesignpriset.se
The Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize
This award is presented annually by the Röhsska Museum in Göteborg for “innovative, outstanding achievement in arts, crafts and design” in the Nordic region. The prize is worth SEK 1 million.
www.torstensoderbergsstiftelse.se
Ung—Young Swedish Design
It is a distinction to be part of Ung —Young Swedish Design, a recurrent traveling exhibition of work chosen by a jury. The aim is to highlight and reward young designers. Special consideration
is paid to long-term sustainable development and green thinking in all processes in the projects.
The exhibition is a co-production by Svensk Form, Stockholm Furniture Fair and Form/Design Center.
www.ung8.se
Publisher:
Swedish Institute
Published:
December 2010
Copyright:
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