Best of Stockholm Design Week 2023. Pleated for Frank collection by Folkform x Svenskt Tenn – Photo by Svenskt Tenn.
Design – Stockholm Design Week 2023 took over the Swedish capital! We selected ten design launches at the largest Scandinavian design event. Sustainability was king, starting from the Nude Edition section of the Stockholm Furniture Fair, dedicated to circular design and made from recovered materials that were returned and recycled after use.
- RELATED STORY: Read more about Stockholm Design Week 2023 on Archipanic.
The convivial urban bench
Photo by Vestre.
Norwegian designer Daniel Rybakken debuted the discrete and simple Ypsilon Bench, developed in collaboration with street-furniture company Vestre. The seat consists of two solid glulam wood beams that angle towards one another to create a comfy seat available in both straight and circular versions. It can also be supplied with both armrests and a back, as well as with a flexible metal table top. Vestre has recently inaugurated the world’s most eco-friendly furniture factory in Norway, and it is the first furniture manufacturer to declare the carbon footprint of all products.
3D-printed high-end circular seats
Photo by Reform Design Lab.
Reform Design Lab has presented the MOTIF Chaise Longue, a high-end sustainable seat merging art and technology. The innovative Swedish design company has developed a third, completely disruptive way of manufacturing that goes beyond mass production and traditional craftsmanship. Thanks to premium recyclable materials and an efficient global network of 3D-printing facilities that grow as the production upscales, Reform Design Lab’s business model eliminates international transportation, reduces waste production, and embraces circular design values.
The Brutalist concept kitchen
Photo by Superfront.
Superfront presents Bruta, a Brutalist-inspired, dynamic kitchen concept by Raw Edges studio that consists of three distinct modules – base cabinets, wall cabinets, and tall cabinets – available in a specially developed colour palette. “We grew up in Tel Aviv and then moved to London. We’ve always been surrounded by Bauhaus, Modernist, and Brutalist architecture.” Raw Edges co-founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay told Archipanic. “Brutalism is functional, clean, and minimalistic. Yet, often architects invited artists to create reliefs on the buildings’ concrete facades. From here, we designed sculptural details for the handles that create a statement kitchen design.
Iconic pleated lamps
Photo by Svenskt Tenn.
Svenskt Tenn teamed up with Folkform design studio to pay homage to renowned Austrian architect Josef Frank who created many design icons for the Swedish company. The new Pleated for Frank collection of pleated table lamps and lampshades reinterprets the architect’s classic design world. The light fixtures come in multiple shades of green, as well as Frank’s classic patterns. “We have also renewed the technique used to pleat lampshades, as the entire structure is hidden on the inside.” Explained at Folkform. The Stockholm-based design studio won the Scandinavian Design Awards 2023.
The sofa turned into a hammock-like viewing platform.
Photo by Samsung.
Form Us With Love studio teamed up with Samsung Nordic to rethink the sofa as a giant reconfigurable hammock doubling as a viewing platform. Named Shift, the prototype of the concept sofa/hammock, responds to new ways we use telly, whether you want to watch a movie, use it for work or family video calls, or gaming. “The aim was to create a more flexible and space-efficient design than a static sofa.” Says Karin Blomberg, design manager at Form Us With Love.
From stairs to upcycled chairs
Photo by Alexander Lervik.
At his Unikat Gallery in Stockholm, Alexander Lervik expanded Hemvist, a limited edition of furniture designs constructed out of leftover solid wood from staircase manufacturing in a 1922 Swedish factory. The series applies a building technique using pegs and wedges to combine the wooden pieces. ‘In this furniture collection, I have simplified the shape to a graphic simplicity with a strong identity,’ shares the designer.
Unconventional modular soft seats
Photo by Lammhults.
Lammhults introduced Bau by Note Design Studio. The series comprises six sustainable modular units that can be combined to create endless configurations. The seats are softer, lower, and more eccentric than conformist modular systems for workplaces and public spaces. Bau comes with a shell of fibre board, highly resilient polyurethane foam, and adjustable glides.
Super Superficial chair
Courtesy of Ung Svensk Form.
At the Ung Svensk Form exhibition dedicated to Swedish rising talents, Laura Kjaer presented Super Superficial, a lounge chair that claims its place and fills it with bold colours and ornaments – inviting its user to kick back and do the same. “Combining an old marquetry technique and a modern lasercutter, I explored the potential of the surface as a place of actualised power and change.”
The stalactite-like chair
Courtesy of Stockholm Furniture Fair.
Fascinated by the random beauty of Nature, Stockholm-based Kajsa Melchior presented stalactite-like furniture blurring the lines between design and sculpture. Made of sand and alabaster, her piece comes with organic silhouettes largely determined by natural forces such as wind and water. The new pieces debuted in one of the rooms at the new Stockholm Design Week venue Älvsjö Gård.
Basket-shaped lamps
Photo by Artek.
Finnish design brand Artek introduces Kori, a lighting collection designed by Stockholm-based TAF Studio. In Finnish, Kori means basket and speaks of the intelligent core element designed to create a warm, generous atmosphere through soft and diffuse light. The basket-shaped series comprises pendant lights, a floor, and a table lamp.
