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.
Design
Modern Swedish Classics
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Pan-Scandinavian Design Collaboration
Linde&Sandström, a Danish-Swedish design firm, creates furniture that seem destined to last. Their designs are classic yet somehow edgy and innovative whilst always remaining elegant and functional. Intriguingly based on either side of the Oresund Bridge with offices in both Copenhagen and Malmö, Linde&Sandström was founded by the Danish 3D designer Anne Linde and Swedish interior designer Monica Sandström.
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Smart Swedish Design
In a fruitful new collaboration, the Swedish based designers Johanna Strand and Åsa Elmstam have developed a highly functional and stylishly minimalist new piece of furniture. Powerwise is designed to help people handle their everyday electronic devices in a smarter way. As we all know, cell phones, Mp3-players, cameras and handheld computers are forever in need of recharging and rather annoyingly they all come with their own adaptors. By now, most of us also happen to know that a charger that's constantly plugged in to the wall is not only an environmental burden and an unnecessary electricity cost but also a potential fire hazard. Sadly, if chargers aren’t plugged into sockets they seem to have a tendency to go missing just when they’re needed most.
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Education Through Humor
Considering the style and functionality of Nordic design and the liberal attitudes towards the body and nakedness in Scandinavia, it should be no surprise that the Pee & Poo brand exists. Originally designed as two friendly personalities to help children feel more comfortable with the potty training experience, Pee & Poo work equally well as cuddly companions for children or as humorous gifts for adults...at least those who have never quiet outgrown potty humor.
Pee & Poo, literally a yellow droplet and chunky brown dollop, were developed by the Swedish/English designer Emma Megitt as part of her masters degree in Graphic Design at Gothenburg University. Since its creation in 2004, the brand has grown to include clothing for both children and adults, together with a range of accessories. Successfully marrying together aesthetic and educational elements, the brand has become popular at home in Sweden and around the world with children and adults alike. See more of the range below:
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Young Scandinavian Minimalist
As is often the case with young up and coming Scandinavian designers, you won’t find much information about Mats Seitz on his website. No matter, luckily his fast growing body of work speaks for itself including his latest design, the simple yet effective Klossel.
A puzzle based on a simple truck motif, Klossel is the first product in a series of educational building block toys for children. As with much of Mats Seitz’s work, the toy is strictly minimalist in design, in this case with the intention of allowing children to express their imagination.
Some of our favorite designs include the highly functional though cute looking CanCan (a modular clothing hanger), his Wall-E resembling floor lamp and his distinctively designed side table, which is sure to become a design classic. Take a look below to read a brief profile of the designer and to see a selection of his work:
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New Danish Designs
Given the rate at which they launch new designs, it’s no surprise that one of our first postings after the long Summer break is about a whole host of new products from our Danish design favorites, Normann Copenhagen.
As always, the new products, with simple yet intriguing names such as Moon, Drop and Fusion, are the usual mix of stylish form and clever function with a small dose of humor thrown in for good measure. Normann Copenhagen also seem intent on enlisting the help of some of the more interesting designers not only from Scandinavia but from around the world. The latest series of products have been designed with the help of Herbert Krenchel, Matthias Demacker, Odoardo Fioravanti, Rikke Hagen and Jakob Helberg.
Take a look below at some of our favourites from the new additions to Normann Copenhagen’s already impressive line-up of products:
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Creative Swedish Hospitality
A fully equipped designer hotel room in the middle of Gothenburg that’s totally free to stay in. Sounds almost too good to be true but that’s precisely what’s on offer at the Creators Inn. By partnering with different local independent organizers, Creators Inn are able to offer visiting creatives short-term accommodation during their stay in the biggest city on the west coast of Sweden.
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Scandinavian Design Winners
Just over a week ago, the European Design Awards were handed out in Stockholm. Our friends at BVD, the Swedish design and branding agency, happened to win two golds in a competition with well over 900 entries from all over Europe.
One of BVD’s gold awards was won for their redesign of Blossa Annual Edition Glögg (mulled wine), in the category for Packaging: Alcoholic Drinks. BVD’s design proved popular with both the jury and the general public, as evidenced by the fact that Blossa Annual Edition Glögg sold out just a few weeks after its release in December.
BVD received its second gold in the category for Packaging: Miscellaneous for their Electrolux Ultra Silencer Special Edition project with Pia Wallén, a design we’ve previously written about on lifeiscarbon®. Take a look below to read more about the awards and to see some our favorite design projects by BVD:
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Young Norwegian Design Collective
Apparently lifeiscarbon® are not the only people to have discovered the design collective Wyller, Froystad & Klock from Norway since despite having not yet concluded their studies at the National Academy for Arts, WFK’s work has been receiving considerable media attention and was even exhibited at this year’s Salone Satellite in Milan. We’ve totally fallen for their designs, from their use of traditional Spelsau wool to their various innovative yet retro-inspired furniture designs. Maybe it’s just us, but somehow their designs put us in mind of the luxurious lair of SPECTRE’s evil leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. A look that we’ve been trying to recreate for many years.
WFK consists of a group of design students based in Oslo, Norway who just happened to meet in 2004 at the start of their studies at the National Academy for Arts. Øyvind Wyller, Marte Frøystad and Runa Klock genuinely seem to share a passion for creativity and a desire to create sustainable yet beautiful products. Take a look below to read more about the individual designers and to see a selection of WFK’s work:
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Treasures Of Wasteland
Few would disagree that bold thinking and a fair amount of courage are needed to change the way that products are designed and produced today if we are to save our planet. SECCO, a Finnish design company with a conscience, seem determined to lead by example. At SECCO´s workshop and headquarters in Jyväskylä, tyre inner tubes are turned into handbags, washing machine drums into stylish bowls, computer keys into jewellery and seatbelts into bags. By combining funky materials with clever design to create functional products that are built to last, Secco are proving that the ever-growing stream of waste material can increasingly serve as the basis for new products without further exploiting our planets resources.
The raw materials that Secco use are acquired from various waste collection and recycling companies. Many of which are social enterprises that strive to employ long-term unemployed, people with disabilities or the latest immigrants to Finland. All of these companies also participate in Secco’s product development and material processing experiments. Every stage of production is carried out in the most ecologically sustainable way and all of Secco’s products are predominantly handmade. Take a look below to read more and to see some of our favorites from Secco’s current range:
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Swedish Limited Edition
Gram, a Stockholm based design company whose work we've long admired, have just launched a new premium sneaker range to go with their existing range of shoes and knitwear. Limiting themselves to a strict monochrome palette, Gram have created two distinctive looking shoes; one appears to have been dipped in a bucket of white paint (sole, upper and lacing all blend seamlessly into a blindingly white shoe) whilst the other represents it’s polar opposite; black, black and more black. Nothing unusual in that, you might say. But don’t be fooled by first appearances. It may look at first as though Gram have simply created a classic hi-top shoe but look closer and you’ll discover a multitude of technological wonders. Here’s just a taste of the design specifications for the Gram SE range:
“In an effort to recreate the comfort of professional trainers, a mixture of EVA and abrasion resistant rubber has been used for the shoe’s outsole, thereby achieving excellent dampening, multi-directional support and all the grip and durability you’ll ever need. If for any reason you actually manage to wear out the sole, fear not. Every pair of Gram SE trainers comes with replacement parts. The thick-coated cow leather shells come with triple stitching on all seams, reinforced lacing and are fully lined with moisture absorbing, quick drying mesh to keep your feet warm and dry. The ergonomically shaped insoles are covered in quick drying microfiber cloth and include neoprene heel dampening, silicone arch support and all-over EVA cushioning.”
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Traditional Toys With A Twist
Wooden Storage Box, designed by Elisabeth Årbrandt
Given the popularity of our previous posts on Playsam and Olav Øen, we’re clearly not the only grown-ups who love the stylish simplicity of traditional Scandinavian toys and like to keep them as design objects long after kids have outgrown them. Our latest discovery is Micki Leksaker, a Swedish family-owned company that has been creating educational toys for children since 1944. With a stated mission to design toys that offer pure joy and a high level of playfulness thereby making it fun and exciting for children to learn new things, Micki have maintained a tradition of craftsmanship that focuses on materials, shapes and design. Natural raw materials are still used to create toys that are not only nice to hold in small curious hands but also attractive design objects for adults.
As is befitting a toy company, the story of the foundation of the business has something of a fairy tale feel to it. Apparently, Georg Aronsson was sitting in a restaurant in Jönköping in 1944 and began a conversation with a person sitting close by who happened to work as an artist. Before the evening was over, the artist had drawn a number of drawings of a little wooden figure and thus the first Micki character began life on the back of a restaurant bill. Take a look below to read more about Micki and a selection of lifeiscarbon® favorites:
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Intriguing Swedish Inspiration
Whilst we admit that we occasionally go in for a little Ikea hacking, we much prefer quick and easy repurposing ideas. lifeiscarbon® recently stumbled across an interesting range of products for children and instantly fell in love with their amazing plethora of oversized labels – a love perhaps explained by our passion for the details often found on Japanese designer t-shirts. Desperate to have them (and with our kids to old to need them) we quickly had to think of an excuse to buy them. Which all goes to explain why our bicycles now have multipurpose holders hanging from their crossbars and we own a collection of the best looking pincushions in town.
Thilde of Sweden make simple but inspirational products for children based around the idea of using interesting colors and textures to pique children’s curiosity and engage their minds.
Founded in 2004 by a former textiles teacher called Pia Eriksson, the company was started almost by accident when Pia bought her daughter Thilde a cuddly toy and realized that the thing that captivated her attention most was the laundry label. This simple observation led to the ingenious idea of creating The Thilde Pillow, which features a variety of interesting labels and tags for a child to suck, bite and otherwise play with.
Initially launched in its native Sweden but now available in over twenty countries worldwide, The Thilde Pillow quickly received critical acclaim amongst parents and press alike, after which the range expanded to include a number of other inspired products. Take a look below to read more and to see a selection of our favorites:
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Revised Design Classic
Normann Copenhagen, our Danish design favorites, have just announced that they are introducing a steel version of their highly popular and award winning Norm 03 lamp. Originally designed by Britt Kornum in 2003, Norm 03 is a wonderfully sculptural, self-assembly lampshade designed with simple and organic principles in mind. It comes with as many as 39 pieces but no tools or glue are needed for assembly and luckily it’s easy to put together. Attractive, functional and affordable, Norm 03 in its standard form has quickly become a Danish design classic and the steel version is bound to become equally desirable.
Britt Kornum initially designed Norm 03 whilst studying Furniture and Space Art at The School of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark as she explains: “Originally, Norm 03 was an assignment at the School of Architecture. However, it had to ripen before becoming a reality. After a while I had to evaluate the design and came up with the idea of using strips to create a sphere. By using paper strips it was possible to create the interesting pattern of waves. Within a short time I had developed the first prototype, but to reach the perfect shape I had to do several experiments. Norm 03 is now shown around the world, and it’s amazing to experience one’s idea becoming an actual product”. Look below to take a first look at Norm 03 in steel and find out about some other lifeiscarbon® favorites from Normann Copenhagen:
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Sustainable Minimalism
Given our peculiar aesthetics, it’s probably no surprise that lifeiscarbon® have long been huge admirers of the art and architecture of Donald Judd (we are even planning a pilgrimage to Marfa, Texas when we can spare the time). Easy therefore, to see why we love the brutally hard edged work of Norwegian architects BKARK.
Comprising of Geir Brendeland, Olav Kristoffersen and Simen Stori, BKARK was originally established after the architects successfully won a competition to design sustainable low-cost housing for the Svartlamon district of Trondheim. Completed in 2005, the Svartlamoen housing project is a unique example of sustainable multi story wooden housing in an urban context and has been widely published internationally as well as being nominated for numerous awards (including Mies van the Rohe award 2007, The Architectural Review Award for Emerging Architecture 2005, Iakov Chernikov prize 2006 and Young Norwegian Designers of the year, 2005)
BKARK have continued to address the issue of sustainability in their projects and to explore more and more innovative uses of wood in their designs. Recent projects include a stunningly minimalist private home that seems to float above a skirt of glass, converting a car dealership into a kindergarten and over coming Polar conditions to create designer apartments on Svalbard. Latest news is that BKARK have won first prize in a competition to create visitor facilities at the spectacular Torghatten mountain in northern Norway. Take a look below at some examples of their work:
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