EYE CANDY FROM
Stockholm Design Week
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of visiting Stockholm Design Week and it was total design inspiration. We were able to catch up and see what's new from some of our favorite brands as well as find new goodies, headed your way very soon. It's been wonderful to see brands like Menu and Ferm Living evolve and expand their offering with such beautiful new items.
POSTCARDS FROM SWEDEN
Stockholm Moments
The city itself was such inspiration. I loved the color palette and the soft, filtered light that so perfectly complements the ever present candle flame. We experienced equal parts luxury and lived-in comfort at Ilse Crawford's Ett Hem hotel and watched Swedes on the scene at Miss Clara's Hotel. Stockholm was inspiring but approachable. It is design forward yet utilitarian which I guess isn't surprising of a city within a country that founded IKEA.
At Stockholm Furniture and Lighting Fair, there is an entire exhibit hall dedicated to furniture for use in contract spaces. I would love to see more work environment/office spaces look this minimalist and modern. I mean, look at those modern rubbish bins? And speaking from experience having worked in open plan office space where it's not easy to have frank phone conversations in front of all of your colleagues, I think the freestanding phone booth is brilliant!
I loved the over arching color palette of Stockholm. Seeing so many buildings and public spaces designed in light pastels with richer hints of terracotta and lemon yellow was a lovely visual experience. The block of tile image is from an underground metro stop. I'm sure it already exists but one could do an entire blog post of Stockholm's design forward metro stops.
Svenskt Tenn is so old school charming. It's what I imagine to be the original intent of a Department Store. You know, like the early days of Selfridge's and The Paradise (sorry for the Netflix reference). Back when department stores were meant to delight, inspire and provide their customers a luxury experience. I found myself wandering each room, admiring the products, enjoying the displays and when I made my way up to the top floor; lo and behold, they had a tea salon. Trust that champagne, tea and scones were had while waiting on my Josef Frank gifts to be wrapped.
Wonderland exhibit at Fotografiska was hands down one of my favorite experiences from Stockholm. Artist Kirsty Mitchell spent 5 years developing the show after the unfortunate passing of her mother and it was a nod to their shared love of fairy tales. The images were so magical and seeing video shorts giving a snapshot of the work that went into creating each image was amazing. What I loved most is that beside each image was a placard with a statement from the artist describing how it felt seeing each image come to life and the connection back to her mother.
Design is just a way of life in Scandinavia and I so appreciate that. I loved seeing HAY AAS 32 and AAS 38 stools at the airport. And yes, that's Menu's Collister lamp in use, at the airport!! I left this scene at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport for a layover at Chicago O'Hare...it was a jarring juxtaposition.
