Top picks from Stockholm Design Week

2020 saw Aritco’s debut at the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair where it launched its latest product, the Aritco PublicLift Access featuring an LED screen designed for video art.  We also made sure to carve out some time to explore some of the new products the fair had to offer – here are five of our favourites.

To mark the 70^th anniversary of the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, the organisers showcased design classics from the 1950s to the present day that are still in production. As Aritco’s lifts are inspired by Scandinavian design, we were intrigued to see which pieces have stood the test of time. We were drawn to the ones that elegantly combine form and function and span the line between art and design, the subject of the Dezeen panel discussion. 

The sculptural and ergonomic Scandia chair by Norwegian designer Hans Brattrud, Fjord Fiesta is an iconic design piece that stood out. Dating back to 1956, it is crafted from strips of laminated, lacquered American walnut or oak bolted together and cradled by a satin chrome steel base.

We are very proud that 95% of the materials used to make Artico’s lifts are recyclable and we are striving to achieve 100% in the near future. In line with this industry-wide initiative, Italian furniture company Kartell has launched a fully sustainable version of its iconic, cylindrical Componibili storage unit originally designed by the brand’s co-founder Anna Castelli Ferrieri in 1967.

Made from a new bioplastic material formed as a result of natural fermentation of farm waste by bacteria, the BIO Componibili range comes in four pastel shades and can withstand water and heat during use, and Kartell reports it is completely biodegradable when buried underground or dropped in the sea.

Long Scandinavian winters and a looming climate crisis mean we cherish all things green, and with a growing urban population living in ever-smaller homes, having your own garden is only a dream for most of us. Bangkok-based design studio Altelier 2+ has come up with a solution for even the smallest spaces – a range of mini domestic greenhouses in plain or black-stained ash. More architectural than table-top terrariums, they hark back to Wardian cases used by British plant hunters to store rare ferns and orchids they brought back from far-flung jungles and mountain-tops back in Victorian times.

Look out for our Dezeen talk on Design and Nature, scheduled to take place during Design Shanghai 2020.

Form, function and an innovative use of light are the hallmarks of the Aritco HomeLift, so it’s no surprise that the new w152 busby (Wästberg) designed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin caught our eye. Freestanding or wall-mounted, the lamp is suitable for the office, the workshop, the library, living room or bedside table. It includes three smart USB outlets that detect charging requirements for phones, power packs or even the latest generation of laptops, charging multiple devices at the fastest rate.

At Aritco we believe that even great design can be improved which is why we re-launched our commercial lift, the Aritco PublicLift Access, during Stockholm Design Week with elegant black finishes, a new control panel and an LED screen for video art.

Award-winning Swedish design duo Färg & Blanche have taken a similar approach, re-launching their elegant, minimalist drinks cabinet, Loud (Northern), in black painted oak. The new model retains the unadorned form, smooth contours, internal metal bottle-holders and rubber wheels of the original version, but its new hue means this piece can stand out in a space or blend into the background, depending on the interior.