Best In Show: Stockholm Furniture Fair 2016.

Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair form the world’s largest meeting place for Scandinavian design. The entire city of Stockholm gets involved by teeming up with high profile design events, showrooms and exhibitions throughout the week. All in all, this event has developed into a melting pot where everyone who’s connected to or interested in Scandinavian design meets. So why the hell weren’t we there in person, you ask? Our thoughts exactly. Alas, let’s not despair. Social media, press offices and our own daily detective work ensure nobody misses out. Today we bring you our roundup of event highlights and best new gear unveiled at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2016.

This year’s guest of honour, Barber & Osgerby, created an installation titled Triptych within the fair’s central meeting place – a reflection of the designers’ impressions of the Nordic winters in Stockholm. The London-based duo produced three alternative set ups divided by white screens. One side featured cow hides and natural furs, creating an aura of luxury. The other side was a sharper area of geometric and graphic shapes. Between the two was a softer, more playful space, demonstrating the multifaceted approach of the studio. ‘Each space offers the visitor an environment for relaxation, meeting and working under a canopy of paper lanterns’ explain the designers .

Related Posts:
Stockholm Furniture Fair 2015: Best in Show // Furniture, Lighting & Accessories.
Our recent coverage Imm Cologne 2016 and Maison&Objet 2016.

BAUX Natural Plank designed by Form Us With Love // The latest addition to the BAUX Tile Collection is designed to control sound environment with a refined look. With its natural colours, The Plank, designed by Form Us With Love creates subtle yet stunning environments for homes and offices. Plank is a gleaming, natural wooden texture that can be combined in numerous ways. It comes in two sizes and is easily assembled and customisable depending on project size and room shape.

‘Bolon By You’ Flooring Collection // With six new patterns, twelve new colours and for the first time, the opportunity to create and order personal design expressions through an interactive web tool, acclaimed Swedish design company Bolon launched a breakout flooring collection, Bolon By You.

Bolon By You is an interactive collection conceived with interior designers and architects in mind, who will be able to create bespoke flooring to bring out the best of their spaces. To give a wider creative context to this venture, Eklund enlisted London-based design duo Doshi Levien, who were tasked with developing the image of Bolon By You with a conceptual art direction of the project. Working closely with the creative team in Sweden, the pair created compositions that bring the collection to life through material interventions that resulted in captivating sets, highlighting the capabilities of the floors.

Triptych Installation by Barber & Osgerby // Triptych by this year’s Guests of Honour, Barber & Osgerby, consisted of huge felt screens that created three areas, as well as animal hides on chairs and sheepskins on oak benches. These materials, set off by a white wood floor from Tarkett, reflect Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby’s impression of winters in Stockholm. The installation used felt from Nordifa, known for their engineered textiles, furniture manufactured by Vitra, Knoll and B&B Italia and the Hotaru lantern collection manufactured by Ozeki.

Residence Magazine exhibition for Note Design Studio // Lotta Agaton of Swedish interiors magazine Residence curated a selection of products by Note Design Studio for an exhibition of styled scenes at Stockholm’s ArkDes architecture museum. As winners of Residence Magazine’s Designer of the Year 2015 award, Stockholm-based Note Design Studio’s work was used to highlight the growing importance of styled images for communicating design to consumers.

For the exhibition, a selection of Note Design Studio’s products within cube-shaped sets around the museum space, each themed around a different room in the house. The seven boxes feature a strict colour palette based on Note’s typical hues.

Velvet daybed & black side table.

Brass console.

White Dining table.

Floor lamp.

Green side table.

HANDVÄRK Collection // Our favourite new discovery is Danish brand HANDVÄRK. Founded by 32-year-old designer and architect, Emil Thorup, the beautiful collection consists of handcrafted dining tables, desks, coffee tables and daybeds made from steel, iron, brass, marble and leather. One of each for the Yellowtrace HQ please!

New Collection from Fogia // Fogia has launched three standout pieces – Bollo armchair, Tabula Table & The Arch Shelves. Bollo, designed by Andreas Engesvik was initiated as a typical Scandinavian lounge chair with slim features and modest use of materials. Bollo has a strong character inspired by its heightened level of comfort, with generously shaped cushions and a bold appearance. Tabula Table, designed by Note Design Studio, is a meeting of material intensity and simple lines. Standing alone, or as part of a group, Tabula is a rich piece with thick leather detailing, topped with beautiful terrazzo. The Arch shelving, also by Note Design Studio, feature half-moon shapes created by bent timber supports. The shelving comes in separate sections of various heights and widths, which can be mounted onto a wall in different configurations.

Toward Sofa by Anne Boysen for Erik Jorgensen // The Toward Sofa takes symmetry out of the equation with its unique, curvy lines. Designed by Anne Boysen for Erik Jørgensen, the sofa has a playful mix of organic-shaped back rests and two loose and interchangeable armrest cushions that move around to create a versatile piece of seating.

Hector Sofa by Anderssen & Voll for Erik Jorgensen // Norwegian designers, Anderssen & Voll have played with an archetypical Erik Jørgensen design, reinterpreting it in their ‘Hector’ sofa. The sofa features a clean-lined and minimalist outer shell built up around a more comfortable interior. It has clear references to several recognisable and time-honoured features from Erik Jørgensen’s more than 60-year history.

Updated lighting collection by Inga Sempé for Wästberg // Inga Sempé continues to explore the world of lighting in her ongoing collaboration with Swedish company Wästberg. Since 2010, the French creative has designing a luminaires for Wästberg that bring forth new ways of looking at and experiencing luminosity within the domestic environment. On the occasion of the 2016 Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, Sempé debuts ‘Lampyre’; and expands her previous ‘w103’ series with a modular floorlamp version.

Winkel W127 Table Light & W162 Pendant Lights by Wästberg // Berlin-based product designer Dirk Winkel created a slim black desk lamp to show that plastic can be as solid and tactile as metal or wood. The Winkel W127 is made from a fibreglass-reinforced bioplastic containing 60% castor oil from the castor plant, making it recyclable and more environmentally sound than crude oil-based plastics.

W162 pendant light by London-based Industrial Facility are available in matte and glossy finish, featuring unconventional colour palettes we love.

Balancer Lamps by Yuue Design // This steel and marble floor lamp by Berlin studio Yuue Design is adjusted by sliding a handle up and down its stem. The Balancer lamp features a globe-shaped glass lamp on the end of a long steel rod, which is held perpendicular to the vertical pole. A circular knob is linked to the end of the horizontal element by a curved lever. Sliding the knob up or down the stem pulls this pole and causes the lamp to pivot.

Jasper Morrison for Fredericia // Danish furniture house Fredericia and British designer Jasper Morrison have collaborated on three new products – the ‘Taro’ dining table, ‘Pon’ multifunctional tables and ‘Kile’ sofa (not shown). Throughout Frederica’s long history, wood has been worked in great detail and is always the main centre piece of the company’s furniture production. As a result, Morrison has worked with ash and oak timber for all of the pieces.

Talking Pieces by Emma Olbers & Lisa Hilland // In this latest exhibition by designers, Emma Olbers and Lisa Hilland, unique materials and various techniques were used to present a new series of objects and furniture. Entitled ‘Talking Pieces’, the items encourage a conversation, which was the motivation behind the collection.

“Through the objects, we urge people to have meetings and create new friendships. We also thought a lot about exciting new encounters between different materials. Low-tech meets high-tech. But we also wanted to challenge ourselves and work with new technologies and material combinations. We have combined wood with industrially produced jacquard tapestry, leather from Tärnsjö, silk and specially designed screws that have been developed with the help of 3D data modelling,” explain the designers.

To realise the vision, Swedish producers were contacted and contributed to this exciting project. Together with Bolon, Hantverkscentrum in Tibro, Tärnsjö Tannery, Rosengren Metal Foundry and Sidenväveriet, techniques and materials were combined, resulting in an astonishing collection.

Vava Stool by Kristine Five Melvaer for Artek // VAVA is a stackable stool that combines classical elements in a new way. The name is inspired by the legs which moves up and down around the stool in a steady rhythm, giving the furniture its recognisable character. The legs have an unusual angle, turning inwards in one axis and outwards in another axis. This adds to the characteristic expression, while at the same time giving stability. The prototypes were exhibited for the first time at the Aurora exhibition at the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

Castle Planter & La Pipe Chair by Friends & Founders // Copenhagen-based Friends & Founders continue to impress. Amongst some of their new releases is the CASTLE Planter which is uniquely casted by hand, and made from recycled aluminium – available in raw or black finish. La Pipe collection features a low lounge, dining & high chairs in beautiful combination of materials and finishes.

Furniture Collection by Thom Fougere // Canadian designer Thom Fougere has created a collection of furniture and homewares based on his home country, including a set of fireplace accessories based on historic tools and tables made from limestone. The pieces of Fougere’s 2016 collection reference the Canadian landscape and the country’s cultural influences, as well as using local materials such as stone quarried in Manitoba.

Cavetto Shelving System by kaschkasch for Karl Andersson & Söner // The name Cavetto comes from the moulding on the edges of all Cavetto models – a shelf series that can be configured in endless variations. The ingenious thing about Cavetto is that the edges of the shelves are shaped so that back and side panels can be inserted between them without the need for any fittings. Cavetto can be placed against a wall, positioned as a room divider or used to build a room within a room.

‘Wind’ room dividers by Jin Kuramoto for Offecct // Japanese designer Jin Kuramoto’s collection of screens for Swedish furniture brand Offecct can be arranged as “a forest of organic shapes” to help dampen noise in open-plan interiors. The Wind dividers each rest on a concrete base and are made of fabric stretched over metal tubing. They are available in five different shapes modelled on forms found in nature.

Tureen Tables by Jonas Lindvall for Stolab // ‘Tureen’ is a collection of three side tables designed by Jonas Lindvall for swedish furniture producer Stolab. The series is available in a range of heights and table surface diameters, with top options of solid oak, carrara and green marble. Created as representations of the triumvirate, ‘Tureen’ can be utilised as a group or individually.

Mopsy Table by Markus Johansson // Swedish designer Markus Johansson has created a collection of coffee tables that combine circular and rectangular tops placed at different heights. The designer experimented with different combinations before deciding on the two shapes, which form overlapping tabletops. Individual tables can be displayed on their own, or slotted into others to form various arrangements.

Tom Dixon for Ege rugs // British designer Tom Dixon has created a collection of seven rugs influenced by patterns found around London for Danish carpet manufacturer Ege. The carpets feature repetitive motifs based on shapes found in streets and buildings around the city, including paving slabs, bricks, tunnels and railway backdrops.

‘Little Big Ear’ espresso cups by Luca Nichetto.

An ash wood hat stand is named after the ‘Panama’ hat.

Jin Kuramoto’s transparent containers, called ‘Phantom’, use heat-pressed polyester mesh to create a lightweight container.

Update Collection of ‘Smaller Objects’ by Claesson Koivisto Rune // A range of international names have created products for a label created by Swedish architecture and design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune, which offers designers an alternative to the traditional royalty model. The latest products added to the Smaller Objects range of “useful everyday objects”, products include a set of white ceramic coffee cups called Little Big Ear by Italian designer Luca Nichetto, Pahntom container by Jin Kuramoto and a timber hat stand designed by the company founders.

Issey Miyake x Iittala Collection // Japanese fashion house Issey Miyake has created a range of homeware with Finnish brand Iittala, which includes pleated place mats, tote bags and cushion covers. The Iittala x Issey Miyake Collection includes 30 textile, ceramic and glass pieces for the home. This first collaboration between the two companies has been in development for over four years and aims to merge the minimal design traditions of Finland and Japan.

[Images courtesy of press office.]