An American's Musings About Scandinavian Design (Plus a Sneak Peek at100% Norway)

 

The Size Chair by the Torsteinsen Design Team

Scandinavian design is known and celebrated for its ergonomic, functional and sustainable qualities. As a culture, Americans are infatuated with the style yet it puzzles me how we are so enamoured with the design works from a Northern European region and people that many of us know very little about. Consumers tend to use the term "Scandinavian design" loosely as a moniker to describe "modern" or "contemporary."

 

Tilt Lamp by Caroline Langfeldt, a designer from the Bergen Academy of Art. Her work appears in the exhibit “KHiB with Friends” at Tent London during the London Design Festival

Sure Scandinavian design spans those style spectrums but beyond the surface labels lies much more. Scandinavian design is about creating a user experience, solving a problem, finding a better way and above all, it stirs the soul. I would even venture to say that the American affinity for Scandinavian style is more about seeking a refuge from our own noisy, embellished, often over-the-top culture.

Tomorrow, I head to London for the week-long London Design Festival and I will have rare access to some of Norway's most celebrated and revered designers as well as up and coming design stars.

 

The Copper Mirror Series by Amy Hunting and Oscar Narud use the simple, raw materials of granite, steel and copper.

Many will converge at the exhibition 100% Norway, part of a huge trade show called Tent London. This year 100% Norway is celebrating it's 10th anniversary as a participant in the London Design Festival with a theme entitled "10 by 10"— 10 designers representative of Norwegian heritage and history and 10 emerging designers with novel ideas. 100% Norway also provides an exclusive introduction into products and designs that the world has never seen before.

 

The Butterfly Copper Light by Atle Tveit & Sven Ivar Dysthe. Manufactured by Northern Lighting

In my opinion, one of the shortcomings of American design is this tendency to make it all about the shock factor and show rather than usefulness, function, longterm value and relevance. The Scandinavians get it right by creating timeless pieces that never outgrow their relevance nor usefulness. Here are some of my design picks from 100% Norway born of this whole idea of finding a better way or a solution to a problem.

 

Swing Chair, by Peter Opsvik on exhibit at 100% Norway during The London Design Festival

Peter Opsvik, one of Norway's most established product designers, is introducing a new, more dynamic way of sitting with his Swing Chair. Opsvik says the Swing Chair is inspired by the bar chairs and hammocks he experienced while traveling in Mexico. "My theory about sitting is that if we are allowed to move, we move. The same holds true for sitting," explains Opsvik.

The Trialog Chair by Philipp VonHase on exhibit at 100% Norway during The London Design Festival

Philipp VonHase crafted the three-legged Trialog Chair as highly ergonomic with reverse sitting and a backrest that functions as an armrest when used backwards or sideways. VonHase noticed that when sitting in conventional chairs people tend to sink into the seat and don’t know where naturally to put our arms and hands.  Trialog Chair is VonHase's answer.

 

The Allen Stool by Strek Collective

The Allen Stool by Strek Collective, a design studio of four Norwegian designers,  is stackable for easy storage made possible by a hexagonal shaped profile.

 

The Drift Stool by Lars Beller Fjetland

Norwegian Designer Lars Beller Fjetland seeks alternative ways of thinking about sustainable design and creating new and unexpected combinations of materials in his designs such as the Drift Stool. "The drift stool has mass where it needs it— thicker where the joints are meeting and it's just the meeting of cork and wood. I think this is one of the most environmentally friendly sitting devices on the market," says Bellar Fjetland. The inspiration for ”Drifted” series came to Bellar while walking along the water's edge examining objects and material that had drifted ashore including driftwood bleached and scoured by the ocean and old cork. These textures, shapes and material set the basis for the stool ”Drifted”. The name plays off the material's ability to drift with the current.

 

Chair from The Equal Series by Lars Beller Fjetland

Other works by  Lars Beller Fjetland include The Equal series consisting of a chair and barstool made of ash and cast aluminium and inspired by the study of various tools, bikes and domestic appliances.

 

Cloche Light by Lars Beller Fjetland

Bellar's The Cloche is a lamp that gets personal by creating a sense of intimate space in public areas with a design strongly influenced by nature mimicing the bell-shaped blooms of the bluebell juxtaposed with the bold industrial designs of the 30s and 40s.

 

Sun, an art installation by Christine Istad & Lisa Pacini

I couldn't resist showing you this etheral art installation that begs a moment of silence to pause and reflect on its serene beauty. Norway is known for its long summers of endless sunshine and dark winters devoid of the sun. In a cultural nod to this phenomenon, 100% Norway commissioned The Sun installation that came all the way from Tromsø in the North of Norway.