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Grow at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2012

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow

Green was a big trend at the Stockholm Furniture Fair; from the color of products, to a genuine move to bring the outside in. “Grow” was no exception. Under the guidance of teachers Franz James and Asa Nystrom, furniture designer and guest curator Peter Andersson, landscape architect and guest critic Simon Irvine, students from University Gothenburg, Steneby Craft and Design, were challenged to find unexpected and playful ways to bring chlorophyll, oxygen and plants into people’s homes. Jacob Grant’s The Sound of the Forest (above) was inspired by findings that spending time in a leafy forest can reduce stress and mental illness and is a call to “bring trees inside.”

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Elias O Carl

Carl Johansson and Elias Malmberg created three stackable units to dry grown and foraged herbs, berries and peel preserving both their taste and their health benefits (above and below).

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Elias O Carl

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Sprout Table Lena Louisa Meyer

Lena Louisa Meyer took her inspiration from traditional weaving to create Sprout Table, which can be used as a breakfast table in homes or restaurants, providing ‘green tablecloths’ and increasing appreciation for food, craft and sustainability.

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Anna

On a more practical level, Anna Manqvist offers Grow, a table with six water-resistant zinc boxes that can be lifted in and out of the table, providing space for storage, germination and cultivation.

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Felix

Wanting to encourage a closer, more respectful, relationship between plants and people, Felix Wink, has designed Closer, a chair that brings the positive effects of plants up close and personal.

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Lea

Lea Hein’s Veggiepot, a hydroponic system, offers high-rise dwellers the chance to grow vegetables inside their homes. Designed to add to the interior aesthetic of the home and to fit into small spaces, it gives city dwellers the chance to grow their own.

University of Gothenburg, Stenby Craft and Design Grow Per

And finally, Seed of Friendship by Per Ingvad is about collecting, exchanging and traveling with plants. A fantastically quirky way of bringing plants closer to people – where ever they are.

Our trip to Paris for Maison & Objet 2012 was supported in part by Airbnb.com.

Katie Treggiden is a purpose-driven journalist, author and, podcaster championing a circular approach to design – because Planet Earth needs better stories. She is also the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a program and membership community for designer-makers who want to join the circular economy. With 20 years' experience in the creative industries, she regularly contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine and Monocle24 – as well as being Editor at Large for Design Milk. She is currently exploring the question ‘can craft save the world?’ through an emerging body of work that includes her fifth book, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020), and a podcast, Circular with Katie Treggiden.