Greenhouse at the Stockholm Furniture Fair is a showcase of graduate and independent designers and is always a real highlight of Stockholm Design Week for me. It’s great to see such support of new talent, and there are always some real treats in-store. This year the space was designed by Note Design Studio for the second year running. I spoke to Alexis Holmqvist and Johannes Carlström about their inspiration: “The indigenous people of Sweden, the Sami, make this type of structure. Exhibitors from all over the world pack up their stuff and set up camp here for a week, so we used the camp metaphor and wanted to manifest a meeting point to gather around.”
A popular theme at Greenhouse is challenging perceptions of the simple chair. This example is by Tokyo-based Kunihiro Kobayashi.
This is a development of Fox & Freeze‘s first product, the FF1, an indoor lounge chair, made from one square sheet of synthetic felt, thus producing virtually no waste. Fox & Freeze is a collaboration between James Van Vossel and Tom De Vrieze, both from Belgium. I love the yellow stitching.
Students in the Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies course at Linkoping University collaborated with Svenskt Tenn, using veneer that is wasted in Svenskt Tenn product manufacturing to create products for them. Saina Barazande said, “When they buy their veneer, this is the part they can’t use, so this has been our starting point, to take care of this material. My inspiration was Lapland and the environment, so this is the forest, and the forest will protect your things, but you will also see them.”
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts is always one of Greenhouse’s real treats and this year was no exception. Adam Hermansen presented Monulit, “a sculpture you can sit on.” Each column moves, so you rearrange it to find a comfortable or an aesthetically pleasing configuration.
Nanna Kiil’s project explores “the balance between the repulsive and the accommodating through voluminous curves.”
Inspired by “kaleidoscope monsters”, Kaleidoskap by Vera Ceginskas Lindstrom, was part of a project by students at Lund School of Architecture, using cartoons as a starting point for inspiration.
Stenby Craft and Design school always has something interesting to show, and this year they have created Un-desirables, a project that turns waste products into attractive furniture. Anemone is made from rope spun from polypropylene, the second most common waste material in the world.
Beckman’s College of Design took the theme of contrasts, contradictions, and opposites for their stand.
Karin Palola’s Bungee Chair caught my eye. She says, “I take you on a journey from thrill to peace and calm. Like a rollercoaster. You fall into the bungee chair, with its elastic seat, without knowing how you’ll land. This feeling is found in other areas of life, when you do something you’ve never done before, or make a decision without knowing where it will take you.”
The Swedish School of Textiles had turned their stand into a darkened room as part of a project exploring the use of light technology in textiles. I absolutely loved Droplet by Malin Bobeck.
Inspired simply by the word “mild,” the Mildred stool by Danish designer Monique Constentino, is cushioned with either the blanket it comes with, or one of your own.
And finally, inspired by the trend for home food production Anker Bak has created a chicken coop for balconies. The yellow ‘bars’ are made from elasticated string. It comes flat packed and can be assembled in just two hours.