Modern Swedish Classics

It’s rare that official company showrooms are as inspirational as the eclecticism of smaller independent design stores but together with Normann Copenhagen’s showroom in Copenhagen, the Swedese Shop in Stockholm ranks as one of lifeiscarbon’s favorite stores in Scandinavia. Of course, much of the store’s appeal is do to Swedese’s own range of furniture but it’s also due to their careful selection of Scandinavian design classics that accessorize the interior.

Swedese is a Swedish furniture manufacturer that produces innovative designs that, whilst looking highly modern, seem so familiar that they feel like classics that have been around for years. Highly functional pieces that often incorporate timeless Nordic themes as decorative elements (snow, trees, clouds etc) and are always subtly imbued with a quirky sense of humor.

Creating furniture for the future that builds on the foundations of Scandinavian modern traditions by commissioning forward-looking designers who share in the timeless ideals of architecture, are the principles that Swedese have managed to hold onto for the past sixty years. We applaud them for that. Take a look below to read more about the company and to see a selection of our favorite pieces from their current range:

Headquartered in Vaggeryd in Småland, Sweden, with a second smaller factory in Äng, a small village outside Nässjö, Sweden, Swedese was founded by Yngve Ekström, Jerker Ekström and Sven Bertil Sjöqvist back in 1945.

Many modernist architects not only designed houses, but also the interior, the furniture and the clothes the owners wore. Swedese's founder, Yngve Ekström, was no exception. Together with others including Alvar Aalto, Bruno Mathsson, Arne Jacobsen and Poul Kjaerholm, Ekström was at the center of a generation of designers who made the concept "Scandinavian Modern" famous all over the world. With a keen eye, he designed Swedese's furniture, the head office building, the company logo, product catalogues and even Christmas cards personalized with poems.

Probably the best known of Yngve Ekström's extensive portfolio is the Lamino armchair (designed in 1956), which is still manufactured today. In 1999, Lamino was voted the Twentieth Century's Best Swedish Furniture Design by the Swedish interior design magazine Sköna Hem. Just one of many awards that their designs have received over the years. Other include Bolig Magasinets Design Awards - Best Upcoming that was awarded to the designer duo GamPlusFratesi in 2008, Blueprint Award for Best Interior Product at 100% Design 2007 for the Glove chair by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Blueprint Award for Best Product at 100% Design 2006 for the LOG Collection by Naoto Fukasawa, The Forsnäs Prize 2003 for the Twister stool designed by Yuriko Takahashi and Interior Innovation Award Cologne 2003 for the Lamino chair.

Flower

Glove

Snow

Flow

Papermaster

Swedese Shop+Showroom
Narvavägen 10
115 23 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel +46 8-660 93 01

Swedese

Comments

[ed hardy clothes]

heir autumn/winter 2010 collection balances the mix of trendy and classic they’ve become known for in previous collections, with lots of button-down http://www.edhardysalemall.com/ shirts, knits and rolled up jeans quirked-up with a fuschia sock. Refreshingly, it doesn’t seem totally out of one’s reach to recreate the looks found in the lookbook.