‘Moving Forward’ at Stockholm Design Week 2022 Highlights new Tendencies in Scandinavian Design.

This September, the official Stockholm Design Week 2022 returned for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. Around 70 leading Scandinavian design and furniture brands participated with major exhibitions and new launches in the city. The department store NK was the design week hub, hosting the opening night and a number of exhibitions and activities, including the exhibition Moving Forward.

Curated by renowned Norwegian stylists Jannicke Kråkvik and Alessandro D’Orazio of Kråkvik&D’Orazio, Moving Forward showcased young talents and established brands paving a way forward, combining new autumn launches with atelier pieces.

“For many of the designers included, the material is the starting point. It could be a celebration of a certain material, a way to make use of left over materials or a search for new applications for an overlooked material,” outlines the curator duo.

Some objects and furniture are made specifically for the exhibition, such as the first piece of designer and craftsman Axel Wannbergs series of furniture in mappa burl, hand-made in his Stockholm studio. There are also a number of unique pieces showcased for the first time, such as the petite cupboard with intarsia by architect Thomas Sandell, made in close collaboration with fine carpenters KFK Snickeri.

Norwegian Are Mokkelbost exhibited stools and objects made of found wood, and Swedish designer Elsa Unngård used reclaimed wood and naturally fallen Swedish oak for her organic seat. Lab La Bla’s Viper Bench is made of low-end industrial spruce, copper mining waste from the north of Sweden, pigment and lacquer.

For the furniture producers participating, the focus was on local materials and production and creating a strong brand identity around it. The sustainable furniture company VERK is a great example, working exclusively with local Swedish materials all the way down to the screws and Finnish producer Vaarnii who only uses pine from the north of Finland in all their products. This locality of design and production was a theme felt throughout the entire design week.

“This exhibition is part of our commitment to play an active role as hosts to the design week. We want to mirror what’s happening in the Scandinavian design industry,” elaborates Hanna Nova Beatrice, design editor and project manager of Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture Fair. We say these reflections look pretty on-the-money.

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[Images courtesy of Stockholm Design Week.]