Everything

Summer is here and we look back to the design schools’ spring exhibitions. Today: Umeå Institute of Design and the project Dutch Water Ways av Lars Welten.

Summer is here and we look back to the design schools’ spring exhibitions. Today: HDK-Valand and some of the students from Design and Jewellery Art.

Beckmans’ Graduation Show 2021 is called “Time Well Spent”, meaning three years at Beckmans is time well spent. The three graduating classes in Fashion, Product Design, and Visual Communication have worked to explore, challenge and influence a variety of areas within design. Enjoy the exhibition in full 360°.

Summer is here and we look back to the design schools' spring exhibitions. Today: Konstfack and three students with differents expressions.

Inspired by the flower language of the Victorian era, Scanian design duo candytuft solve human problems with humour. “We toyed with the i dea of what a victorian person would do on Tinder today”, says Maria O’Brian.

This summer Anton Alvarez will be creating an an exhibition for Vandalorum in Småland. The exhibition consists of monumental clay sculptures that are produced on site. Seven tons of stoneware clay will be produced on a scale that far exceeds that we know from the world of ceramics.

Tarkett has made flooring in Sweden since the late 19th century, and the now international company is equally historic in France. Innovative design collaborations go hand in hand with the development of recycled and bio-based materials, and anything from scrapyards to sewage treatment plans form unexpected partnerships. Sustainability director Dag Duberg knows how to transform waste into raw material and make the flooring of the future out of materials that hold a past.

Using moulded plywood, Swedese have not only created sleek design classics but also a manufacturing method that is resource-efficient from the start. Since 1945, their furniture has been produced in the Smålandian forest, and today in partnership with some twenty Swedish and international designers. From the factory in Vaggeryd, CEO Sonnie Byrling calls for more knowledge and regulations that force more companies to make long-term sustainable decisions.

”Made in Sweden” is written in many of Diemonde’s garments. Angelo da Silveira mixes global street culture with Scandinavian minimalism when he designs clothes for a new generation of Swedes. He gained his passion for fashion growing up in Örebro, to where he came as a political refugee from the West African country of Togo. Through his own factory Fugeetex, he fuses ecological, social and economic sustainability, employing the sewing skills of newly arrived refugees.

Swedish Stockings are a pioneer company who want to be mimicked in their sustainable production. Their materials in their shiny stockings include old fishing nets and plastic bottles. While her daughter Elsa-Li is fast asleep in the pram during our walk, founder Linn Frisinger tells me about her goal of changing the entire industry. Seven years after starting the company, she has come along well.

For furniture designer Emma Olbers, climate goals and knowledge form the basis for credible sustainability efforts. The desire to influence is translated through design jobs and activism, from well-considered material choices to Fridays for Future demonstrations. She speaks objectively about the need to tax carbon emissions and how designers do best in thinking backwards.

For Lammhults Möbel, quality and environmental requirements go hand in hand. In their production, brightly coloured interiors meet curvy tubular steel chairs made to give character and comfort to public spaces. Sustainability director Tilda Lagerqvist has many questions on her desk. From the qualities of recycled plastics to extending the life of our durable favourites from the past decades.

At the architecture firm Kjellander Sjöberg, shipyard ruins are converted into modern office spaces and London's derelict industrial areas into waterfront neighbourhoods with social ambitions. One of the founders is Stefan Sjöberg, who designs tomorrow's rooms and cities with demolition metal, a ruler and dreams.

Stockings of discarded fishing nets, wooden tables planed by hand, a streetwear brand that hires Syrian refugees and designer furniture that still feels modern after more than 60 years in production. Those are just a few examples of design that makes a difference on the climate. In the following weeks, you will meet eight designers who have all been appointed flag-bearers by the Swedish Design Movement.