Stockholm Design Week: The Highlights
The annual Stockholm Design Week was first held in 2002, and has now become one of the most important weeks for Scandinavian design. This year it took place between February 6th and 12th, attracting everyone from designers and architects, to media representatives and journalists to the city. The week brings people from all over the globe to Stockholm to celebrate design with creative meetings, world premieres and hundreds of fantastic events, including cocktail evenings and dinner parties, perfect for anyone interested in design.
The Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair is at the centre of it all and with over 50,000 visitors from more than 60 countries, it’s easy to see how this is the largest meeting place for Scandinavian design. Other than Sweden, the countries exhibiting the most at the fair were Denmark, Finland and Norway. In fact, 80% of its exhibitors came from Nordic countries, while independent and unestablished international designers were also given the chance to present their work in the Greenhouse.
Stockholm Design Week is held in a variety of locations across the city, taking place in galleries, showrooms, museums and other cultural institutions. Along with hosting exhibits of fabulous designer furniture, the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair also offered a number of speeches and presentations from well-respected leaders in the design industry. As 2017’s guest of honour, Jaime Hayón gave a lecture on his experiences in the design world, while also designing an installation for the Stockholm International Fairs Square. A number of other lectures focussing on the theme of the Stockholm Design and Architecture Talks, sustainability, also took place across the week along with notable speakers such as Dorte Mandrup, Werner Aisslinger and Neri & Hu taking to the stage.
This year saw the continuation of the Editors’ Choice awards, which honour only the best exhibited in the fair. Awards were given out for the Best Stand and the Best Product along with a Rising Star award for a newcomer showing great potential. These awards were decided upon by a jury of editors from some of the most influential design forums, including Dezeen’s Marcus Fairs.
This year, Kinnarps won Best Stand for their semi-transparent, multi-layered construction which showcased different workplace sets ups taking inspiration from the brand’s 75 year history. The Best Product awards was given to Bernstrand & Borselius for their modular designer sofa called Bob, designed for Blå Station, while the Rising Star award went to designers Knauf and Brown, pictured above.
New for this year’s exhibition was the pop-up Light Shop which featured an array of beautiful designer lighting pieces that visitors were able to buy on the spot. The collection of lights available included new for 2017 products as well as items designed by Jaime Hayón. This pop-up shop proved to be a very popular location.
Other notable exhibitions, such as Welcome to Woodland, a collaboration between the Swedish Association of Architects, the Swedish Institute, C & D Carpentry and the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, also gained attention with its wide selection of inventive architecture in wood. The Design Bar 2017, which housed a mixture of exhibits and fantastic restaurants, created by Note Design Studio, was also a highly talked about exhibit.
This year’s Stockholm Design Week proved to be a great success. We can’t wait for next year!
