Highlights from Stockholm Design Week

The design community was back in force in Stockholm last week, but while our focus was on presenting the new Artico HomeLift Compact, we found time to peruse the stands of the other 400 exhibitors. We’ve picked out five outstanding pieces from other brands that share our values.

This whimsical, ice cream-inspired table lamp was awarded Winner of Interior Detail of the Year at Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair this year. Elegant, sustainable, and affordable, each lamp is 3D-printed from biologically produced plastic extracted from corn starch and recycled food packaging. Soft Serve comes in a range of colors that nod to ice cream flavors – vanilla bean, wild strawberry, rhubarb, cloudberry, matcha and mocha. To minimize waste during the production process, the lamps are seamlessly crafted layer by layer over six hours and only printed on demand.

When Maria Westerberg created a chair using old T-shirts for her graduation project for the University of Konstfack in 2008, it proved a sensation, picking up awards and commissions from Åre Östersund airport and world-renowned architect Bjarke Ingels. After a break from designing to have two children and a short but successful career as a TV presenter, Maria is back with a new collection with a slightly different concept. The Rag Edition 2.0 is made from manufacturing offcuts salvaged from textile producers with added padding for more comfort, hand-woven around a stackable frame. Each piece can be customized and comes with a unique serial number.

Swedish design duo Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren have come a long way since they debuted their studio Front at Greenhouse, Stockholm Furniture Fair’s platform for incubator brands, back in 2004. Their furniture, lights, products and textiles have been commissioned by industry heavy hitters Moroso, Moooi, Vitra and Kvadrat, and now appear in the permanent collections of museums such as MoMA, the V&A, the Vitra Design Museum and Centre Pompidou.

Returning almost two decades later as the fair’s first ever Swedish Guest of Honour, Front had its own moodily lit pavilion exhibiting its extraordinary creations. The Design by Nature seating collection for Moroso, which was crafted from 3D scans of rocks found on forest walks, took center stage. They were upholstered in patterned, tapestry like fabric that emulates moss, lichen and algae, produced by Dutch textile company Febrik which is owned by Kvadrat.

Mood boards are critical for any creative environment, and Swedish company Lintex has taken this simple tool to the next level, elegantly mixing aesthetics with functionality and flexibility. Its latest collection includes the Mood Fabric panel which has a glass writing board on one side and sound-absorbent fabric made from recycled polyester on the other. Available a range of colors with black, grey, solid oak or walnut feet with black castors, it can be used for brainstorming sessions or presentations, and then discreetly wheeled away.

Inspired by the shape of snowflakes, the Lumi pouf (Lumi means snow in Finnish) is more than just a sculptural take on floor seating as designer Lisa Hilland has carefully considered every aspect of the production process. Its characteristic structure uses innovative sewing techniques and pattern construction to create a series of small pockets that require minimal padding but result in maximum comfort. Each pouf is hand-crafted by skilled upholsterers who are trained via a program for the long-term unemployed. Hilland chose Swedish Elmo leather, a by-product that is tanned and dyed using an eco-friendly water-based process, which is unusually soft and develops a beautiful patina as it ages.