5 furniture highlights from Stockholm Design Week 2021
If you’ve never heard of it, Stockholm Design Week 2021 is one of the biggest events in the world celebrating Scandinavian design. First held back in 2002, the event hosts a variety of exhibitions, openings and architecture and design talks.
This year (due to COVID-19) the event was mainly digital, running from 8 to 14 February. From new products to immersive installations, the Swedish capital’s annual expo boldly celebrated (and elevated) everything nordic. As hard as it can be to choose, here are our 5 favourite furniture designs to come out of the world-famous event. We hope these inspire you as much as they do us.
1. Puffy Lounge Chair by Faye Toogood for Hem
Chubby upholstery spills over the modernist steel frame of the Puffy Lounge Chair. Created for Hem by British designer Fay Toogood, it’s a study in contrasts. The detachable upholstery (available in either neutral-tone leather or thick canvas) is shaped like a T, with the longer section casually draped over the back, while the two smaller parts dangle freely over the armrests. The rigid frame underneath serves as a skeleton and is powder-coated to contrast with the upholstery. Light shades are used for the legs where the upholstery is dark and vice versa.
“The idea behind the Puffy Seating Collection is to emphasise the two almost contradictory ideas at play in the furniture,” Toogood explained.
“First, stability and strength, highlighted by leaving the stainless-steel framework on display. And second, comfort and reassurance, in the form of the puffy upholstery. The resulting pieces have a dependable durability coupled with all the enveloping warmth of a familiar duvet.”
2. Koku table range by Fogia x Norm Architects
Two Swedish and Danish design powerhouses - Fogia and Norm Architects - have joined forces to create the exquisite occasional table range, Koku. The table range calls on American/Japanese craftsman, architect, and designer George Nakashima and are named after the island of Shikoku, the site of Nakashima’s former workshops and the setting for an influential research trip for Norm Architects. Developed in response to Nakashima’s sculptural and material-led approach to crafting objects, the tables are made of a combination of striking solid wood and metal tubes allowing for an interesting contrast of dimensions and proportions.
Koku is a play on balance: light and elegant meeting heavy and intentional. The intriguing dimensions and proportions of the tables offer a bold structure underneath, while the top provides a calm and serene surface for arrangements.
3. Échasse Collection by Theresa Rand for Menu
Menu’s popular Échasse Collection is now also available in the colour Amber, reflecting the interior world’s current obsession with the nostalgic 70’s tone. Reimagining the classic elegance of glass vases and bowls, the Échasse Collection brings a minimalist silhouette with distinguished, playful edge to modern and traditional spaces.
The series of glass vases and bowls that form this collection was originally inspired by laboratory test tubes. By suspending mouth-blown glass shapes on brass frames, designer Theresa Rand gives the pieces a sense of lightness while ensuring stability. Rand’s playful concept beautifully interprets the word “échasse”: French for “stilts”. Amber is a very welcome addition to the existing colour range in our opinion.
4. Space carpet collection by Sundling Kickén for Ogeborg
The new carpet collection Space is made in collaboration with stylist duo Sundling Kickén and plays with different structures to create a pattern. Inspired by a mix of international and Swedish traditions, Ogeborg rugs are hand woven or hand tufted from New Zealand wool using traditional weaving techniques and modern patterns to create fresh, contemporary style. The Space collection draws on unique textile patterns and surfaces, utilising natural wool and thick botanical silk to create contrast. The collection is available in three colours: Desert, Ivory and Oyster.
”Their Scandinavian design vocabulary is easily recognisable in the carpet, which comes with a mixed structure and is made of 100 percent wool,” says Helene Ogeborg, CEO of Ogeborg.
Displaying organic shapes that are said to be reminiscent of seedpods, Cloud is a family of “bulbous and sculptural” tabletop pieces made from reflective polished aluminium. The collection, which includes a shallow platter, deep bowl and short and tall vessels, shares parallels with whimsical cloud formations (as the name might suggest). Designer Tom Dixon’s background in metalworking, coupled with his fascination with hand-finished panel-beating techniques was the inspiration behind the range.
The Cloud collection preserves the mark of the craftsman. Handmade in India, each bowl has unique qualities with every hammer and indentation from stretching and warping the metal being preserved. This natural, untouched look contrasts beautifully against the polished aluminium. Function is just as important as the beautiful aesthetic, with each piece designed to hold a considerable amount of food, floral arrangements or Champagne bottles.