Young Swedish Design Exhibition 2014/15

Ung Svensk Form (Young Swedish Form) is a competition, organized by Svensk Form and open to designers under 35 based in Sweden, selecting the best and brightest projects for the Young Swedish Form Exhibition.

[originally posted at infinitesurface.net]

Uncharacteristically, the 2014/15 edition contains very little graphic, product and furniture design compared with previous exhibitions, instead there is a strong presence of fashion and textile. There is also a stronger tendency towards conceptual and idea based works among the nominees this year. The selected works are mainly prototypes and one-offs, not primarily intended for with large scale manufacture or commercial viability. Although this is the general leaning, the exhibition covers a wide spectrum of design practices from Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson’s Ladder for Thonet to Sara Lundkvist’s esoteric glass objects, Erik Bjerkesjö’s Storm Within clothes collection to  Hampus Penttinen’s Snowshoe Chair.  

Ida Pettersson’s POPOP is, literately, the most eye-catching project. It’s a tactile patchwork made out of bright colored patches and strong patterns, seemingly on a collision course with each other. Figuratively. Tactility is also central to Matilda Dominique’s Jacquard-woven waffle binding, albeit in a more subdued appearance. By enlarging the pattern to the verge of collapse, Dominique has set out to explore the limits of the structural integrity of this particular technique and pattern. The 15 meters long black weave suspended from the ceiling is Cora Hamilton’s Quintessence 1-5, another conceptual approach to weaving where the garment and fabric emerge from the loom simultaneously as one. It would have been interesting though, to see the piece draped on a body as well.

Nick Ross is perhaps best known for his aestheticized works based on historic and natural phenomena like Baltic gold and A Mirror Darkly. Little White Lies take its point of departure in antiquity or rather how antiquity has come to be perceived, as a inert monochromatic marble world. Little White Lies is a solid Carrara marble side table, gradient spray painted in a translucent blue. The piece can be interpreted as an attempt to refute traditional value judgments concerning materials and appearances.

Collaborators Erik Olovsson and Kyuhyung Cho’s ROOM Collection has certainly made its rounds through the social medias and internets. And for good reasons, it’s an interesting piece because it merges bold graphic expression with an original  spatial presence. Basically a modular furniture system, ROOM Collection contains non standardized storage compartments made out of pine wood.

Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson and Kajsa Willner’s chairs are presented as a dualistic duo, Part Goat, the former chair, is a modern interpretation of a renaissance type chair, done with great attention to detail not least seen in the chair’s defining faceted backrest. The latter chair on the other hand, is rough and intuitive, a piece of utilitarian craft in the radical tradition Enzo Mari.

Ung Svensk Form is organized by Svensk Form in collaboration with IKEA and Stockholm Furniture Fair. This year’s jury included writer/journalist Salka Bornhold Hallström, architect Gert Wingårdh, fashion designer Bea Szenfeld, art and craft Åsa Jungelius, deigner/curator Petra Lilja, Marcus Engman Head of Design IKEA.

Participants are:

Anneli Tegelberg, Do your practice and all is coming
Charlie Styrbjörn, Ladder
Charlie Styrbjörn, Part Goat
Kajsa Willner, Till snickerboa ränner jag
Cora Hamilton, Quintessence 1–5
Elin Ivre, En Studie i Svart
Erik Bjerkesjö, Storm Within
Erik Olovsson och Kyuhyung Cho, ROOM Collection
Frida Erson, Martin Eckerberg, POM Piece of Me
Gabriella Jangfeldt, ”Sch” en rysk hbtq-tidning
Hampus Penttinen, Snöskostolen
Hanne Mago Wiklund, Objekt som minnesbärare
Ida Pettersson, POPOP
Isabell Yalda Hellysaz, Antidote, Lost memories
Matilda Dominique, Jacquardvävd våffelbindning
Nick Ross, Little White Lies
Robert Janson, Hidden Treasure
Sabina Kramle, Oväntad glans
Sara Lundkvist, Map of Wonders
Sofia Almqvist, UMAMI bord & servis
Sofia Bergfeldt, Siri Bahlenberg, Melt and Recreate
Yasar Aydin, Moving Cross and Loops