”We wanted to create a sanctuary, where you can stay, think, dream and spend time together,” says Ted Muehling. ”Using the Svenskt Tenn archives, with all that Josef Frank and Estrid Ericson have left made available to us, we have staged a home.” Adds Mats Gustafson: ”In reality, interior design takes time to settle. Here we have had the opportunity to improvise, play with instant effects, and to mix the luxurious and extravagant with odd pieces of different value.”

48m² / Beckmans at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2010 from Beckmans College of Design on Vimeo.

Artek celebrates its 75th anniversary substantially all year long in 2010. The first jubilee event will take place in Stockholm in February, where Artek will open a new showroom. The opening of the Stockholm location also marks the launch of DRESS THE CHAIR!, a worldwide campaign to celebrate the skills and knowledge of Artek’s know-how.

Dress the Chair! The aim of the campaign is to highlight the quality and craftsmanship of Artek products. Artek has invited renowned designers and artists to be inspired by Artek’s classic armchairs, focusing on the iconic Armchair 400 designed by Alvar Aalto. Affectionately nicknamed ‘The Tank’, the armchair was first shown at the Milan Triennale in 1936.

During the opening week of the Stockholm showroom, Artek’s master upholsterer will work in public to demonstrate the methods of upholstering. Artek will also present Ilse Crawford’s personal vision of ‘The Tank’ – her interpretation of Artek’s roots. Artek has also the pleasure of introducing Fanny Aronsen’s tactile and colourful fabrics used as covering for iconic Artek armchairs.

From Stockholm, DRESS THE CHAIR! will go on tour to Milan, New York, Sydney, London, Tokyo and Helsinki. Along the way, new artists and designers will be invited to participate in the campaign, and their personal visions will be published one by one as the campaign reaches each new metropolis. As the tour ends in Helsinki, all visions will be brought together for a final show.

Art and Tech Forever When Artek was founded in 1935, a Manifest was drawn up, inspired by Functionalism. The vision was to interconnect modern visual arts, rational furniture production and popular education. The philosophy of Artek has been moulded by strong and talented people whose ideologies and radicalism are today more vibrant than ever. Artek’s original values - long-term durability and high quality combined with a clean form language - are still the company’s driving forces.

ILSE CRAWFORD heads her design company Studioilse alongside her brand consultancy. A figurehead for design that puts the human being at the centre. Studioilse has a definitive approach to creating charismatic and long lasting brands through design. Fascinated by what drives us, brings us together and ultimately makes us happy, her studio manifests this through brands, buildings, furniture and products. Past projects include the award winning Mathias Dahlgren restaurant and the Inn brand. The studio is currently working on an events space in Hungary, a collaboration with Tadao Ando.

FANNY ARONSEN, who stands behind the brand carrying her name, has been living many years in Paris, Amsterdam and Bruxelles and now returned to Stockholm. All fabrics are designed in her studio in Stockholm and produced by the best weaving mills in Europe. Characteristics of her collection are timeless, tactile qualities where an artistic expression and contemporary design are combined. She is also Professor in Textile Design at Konstfack in Stockholm.

Ping Intressant.se

Rowdy is a new seating system from David design (a company which I founded back in 1988, and ran until I left it in the mid 00s). Rowdy is designed by Peter Andersson and Matti Klenell.

The idea behind the product is simple; with inspiration from various examples of how the fashion world succeds in combining design value and brand experience with a competitive price, Matti and Peter created a simplified, almost geometrical set of seating tools. The different blocks can be combined in many ways thus creating a seating landscape.

In order to obtain a price positioning that would allow more people to buy the chair the design is simplified, almost unsophisticated by purpose, in order to minimalize use of material and  to make it uncomplicated to produce and transport.

The character and the design of the chair, aswell as the concept in itself, is well described through the product name;  Rowdy means

row·dy (rou’dē)

n.   pl. row·dies

A rough, disorderly person.

adj.   row·di·er, row·di·est

Disorderly; rough: rowdy teenagers; a rowdy beer party

It’s with great honor that POC supplies the Swedish Alpine Ski Team with helmets, goggles and body armor. An ongoing collaboration since the birth of POC 5 years ago. From this season POC has initiated a specific program where POC gives a little extra support to a number of the Swedish athletes in their quest for the podium, with the major focus on the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver 2010 and next years World Championships.

The group, initially involving three athletes; Maria Pietilä Holmner, Mattias Hargin and André Myhrer, constitutes “The Swedes”. “The Swedes” will be racing in a specifically designed edition of golden helmets and goggles and will show up in their new uniform for the first time at the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver 2010.

Keep an eye on them in their strive to win!

Don´t get confused, NoEarlyBirds is not a newly discovered species. It is the name of a new Swedish furniture manufacturer and the result of a 10 year old dream of architect Per Söderberg and creative director Peter Simonsson to create a brand that reflects their personal believes regarding design and lifestyle.

With over 20 years of working experience in the fields of interior design, architecture and the fashion industry, they now felt the time was right to realize their vision based on the values emotional, inspirational, uncompromising and honesty. The first collection by NoEarlyBirds goes by the name of “New Habits”. A system of shelves, tables, benches and a stool based on an ingenious cross-leg structure inspired by the distinctive shape of a birds leg.

The almost obvious, yet innovative design and the ambition to create an extensive and coherent collection with interesting colours, materials and detailing – this is what makes the whole just as interesting as the parts.

“With the New Habits collection I wish to encourage new ways of furnishing homes and public spaces, while at the same creating timeless furnitures that age with beauty”, says Per.

We want to be able to control every step of the production and we have been extremely careful in the choice of materials and finishes regarding quality and environmental impact. To produce in Sweden was therefore a natural choice.

Per Söderberg holds a degree from the Domus Academy, Milan. Among his former projects you’ll find the storage system Funk, private houses, shops, restaurants and office interiors for clients such as Moschino, J.Lindeberg and Orrefors. Peter Simonsson has formerly worked at David Design, Adidas and Björn Borg among others. Design agency Kurppa PHA and photographer Peter Gehrke are also involved in the project.

Ping Intressant.se

“You can come out when you can properly explain the differences between Modernist architecture and postmodern ornamentation”.

Just a short temptation from Unhappy Hipsters. Visit them for a lot more.

(Photo: Craig Cutler; Dwell, February/March 2006).

Here follows part two of our short image story from a recent visit by David Report to Miami Beach. You can read part one by following this link. We are actually off to Miami Beach later this week again to make further reports, stay tuned.

W hotel is the latest addition to the legendary hotels along Collins Avenue.

Miami beach is all about pool life and sipping cool drinks. The question is if it gets better than at the Delano hotel courtyard by Philippe Starck.

Ian Shrager’s latest project in Miami Beach, Mondrian hotel designed by Marcel Wanders.

Nikki Beach is still offering a relaxed life close to the ocean.

Outdoor restaurant Mai Tardi in the design district with nice atmosphere.

Ever seen the movie Scarface? Then you probably remember the scene from this building at Ocean Drive.

The knowledge company Designboost is announcing today that Ross Lovegrove will attend and talk at DesignBoost February 12 at Arkitekturmuseet in Stockholm. Also Henrik Otto, design manager at Electrolux and Jens Fager, the new hope for Swedish Design, will come and share their visions about how we create design for a better life.

The complete list of speakers and panelists look like this: Karim Rashid, Ross Lovegrove, Stephen Burks, Ineke Hans, Katrin Olina, Ilkka Suppanen, James Irvine, Richard Hutten, Bjarke Ingels, Henrik Otto, Gert Wingårdh, Thomas Sandell, Satyendra Pakhale, Ilse Crawford, Monica Förster and Jens Fager.

It’s free entrance to the BoostTalk on February 12, but you must register at mija(at)designboost(dot)se no later than February 8. Designboost says it is important that everyone should be able to be inspired by creative talks about design regardless of thickness of wallet…

-Ross Lovegrove in one of the leading Design icons and we are of course very happy that he has chosen to participate at DesignBoost. On  the other hand Jens Fager is just in the beginning of his career. I am sure that we will here a lot about him in the future, says David Carlson, from Designboost.

-The theme for DesignBoost at Arkitekturmuseet is “Design for Life”. It’s important to look at sustainable design with a holistic view. At DesignBoost we will discuss how companies and organizations can use design as a competitive advantage. It will be interesting to listen to Henrik Otto, how he is working with design thinking as chief designer at Electrolux, says Peer Eriksson, from Designboost.