Be it through furniture from Ikea, clothes from Hennes & Mauritz or cars from Volvo and Saab, hardly any modern household in the world has remained uninfluenced by Swedish design.
Simple designs at affordable prices is the Nordic recipe for success. In a society shaped by socialism, the term “democratic design” has been in use for decades. Everyday objects are simple, elegant and affordable.Examples of this functional and practical design were recently showcased at The Interior Design Show in Toronto, Ontario. The show featured hundreds of exhibitors and exciting decorating ideas presented by leading international design firms.
But Sweden’s triumphal march through the world’s living rooms began more than 100 years ago. In 1899 Swedish artist Carl Larsson wrote a book called “Ett Hem (A Home) based on the design of his rural home in Dalarna. He wanted to show people how they too “decorate their home nicely”. It became a bestseller.
Modern Swedish design really took off in the early 1980s. Designers Boerge Lindau and Bo Lindekrantz took an important first step in the early 1980s when they developed a dining and conference table that could also be used for playing table tennis.In 1984 Lindau founded the company Bla Station, which made mainly products from beech wood and steel. It used many young up and coming designers to attract national and international attention.David Carlson, who set up the company David Design in 1988, was also an important motor of young Swedish design. As well as furniture and lighting, his programme included practical household goods that also encouraged young talent.“Sweden has produced so many simple, comprehensible things because it was a farming country,” said David Carlson.But Swedish design also has a touch of humour. Monika Forster’s floor or table lamp “Silicon” was inspired by a traditional Swedish sweet. The silicon object feels soft to the touch and whatever shape you pull into, it returns to its original round form. The material also gives the energy-saving bulb inside it, a soft diffuse light.Workability and wit are also the two major themes in the work of Bjorn Dahlstrom, one of the great Swedish graphic artists, furniture and product designers. “If you want to make a couch, you have to put together a rough model first, to find out if you can sit on it,” he says.Probably the best known Swedish designers internationally are Thomas Eriksson and Thomas Sandell, both of whom are very popular with Italian furniture manufacturers. Sandal is known for his luxurious simplicity. But Eriksson also loves understatement.The catalogue of the Italian avant-garde label Cappelini, contains his markedly simple bathroom fittings and a wardrobe shaped like a ladder, as well as symbolic objects such as a bright red medicine cupboard in Red Cross design.