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From plastic to rugs and even recycled trash, Swedish and Nordic design are strutting their stuff for the annual Formex design show in Stockholm which runs through Saturday.
This year's show features 850 exhibitors and includes much more than just standard design ideas. For instance, the Swedish bakery Arbra Angbageri is presenting new colors for its cookie containers. The company has been baking classic Swedish gingerbread cookies since 1892.
Given the darkness of Nordic winters, candles and candleholders are always popular design items. One such is Birdy, created by Swedish designer Charlotte Falck. A modern twist on the traditional Swedish advent candleholder, Birdy is bright white with brass to light up the darkness.
Recycling is also a big theme at this year's exhibition. Old sacks that were used to collect corn in South Africa have been turned into multi-colored pillows and cushions by Bertinah Khumalo who grew up in the South African countryside. They are being marketed in Sweden by Lars Ostman who owns Africa Now.
"It's great to be able to show this traditional handicraft, done with unusual material," Ostman says.
Ostman is also showing covers for iPads and iPhones made out of bags that were packaging for cement powder. They are patterned with an owl and cat based on the children's poem "The Owl and the Pussycat."
New designs by Swedish designer Nadja Wedin are also on display, including HouseSparrow which the designer created for the Swedish home textiles chain Hemtex. Wedin's HouseSparrow design is reminiscent of some of the patterns made internally famous by Swedish furniture and textile company Svenskt Tenn.
Formex project director Christina Olsson says the breadth of this year's show indicates just how much Scandinavian design is growing worldwide.
"There's enormous interest in design and interior decoration and development of Nordic design," she says.
Swedish designer Jan Rundgren notes that Scandinavian design is known internationally for its style and elegance and that furniture and textiles from the Nordic countries are highly sought after abroad.
At the entrance to the exhibition, Rundgren has created a small area, a kind of oasis where visitors can relax during the exhibition as well as forget every day concerns. The theme is in keeping with Day Dream, which is the overall theme of the Formex exhibition.
Rundgren hopes to inspire exhibition visitors to create their own small oases at home.
"The dream of beauty in our everyday lives will never disappear, " he says.
Rundgren is also hosting a series of seminars on hot fall design trends. They include what he calls Soft Nordic: designs with soft pastel colors and rounded shapes.
On Wednesday, the Formex organizers awarded their Nova design prize to Line Depping, a Danish furniture designer who runs a studio in Copenhagen. The prize is intended for a young, new Nordic designer and this is the fourth year it has been awarded.
In awarding the prize, the jury said Depping's designs were in "a classic Scandinavian tradition."
Formex also features a special section for new designers, allowing them to exhibit their products.
The show is open to the public. Besides the latest design trends, there are a variety of seminars on everything from turning ordinary plastic and paper product packaging into home decorations to developing your own design business.
