Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2020
Having spent the last twenty odd years designing and fabricating furniture for our clients, we’ve decided this is the year to put all that R&D into creating our own Jackdaw furniture range.
That's meant making time to visit all the big furniture shows this year.
We kicked off with Maison-Objet in Paris in January and have just got back from The Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair.
With a little push from our neighbours Relay design agency , I jumped on a plane to check out the competition and make some new connections for the studio.
It’s a couple of hours flight to Arlanda and a 40 min train straight to Alvsjo station where the Stockholmsmassan exhibition venue hosts the fair.
This year there were 3 main halls that also incorporated a young designers showcase called the Greenhouse.
An awesome lecture theatre / bar and restaurant designed by Fredrick Paulsen and a central installation from guests of honour (and fellow Eastenders) Doshi Levien.
It’s not overwhelming in size but I was glad I had a couple of days to really get to grips with it all and still find a bit of time to experience Stockholm and Design week.
From the outset it was clear that recycling and sustainability was rightfully at the forefront of both the furniture itself and the stand design.
Mitab are studio favourites and had a knockout stand that addressed head on the glaring awfulness that is the waste generated by exhibitions. It uses a reusable aluminium skeleton, clad in recycled paper using a different colour each year.
Alongside sustainability the other defining aspect of the fair for me was the focus on acoustics.
So often the last thing to be considered in a scheme, I was really excited to see that there is a real sea-change to giving it the importance it deserves.
Back in the early days of Jackdaw we learned the hard way about the importance of acoustics in workspace design.
Turns out that a concrete slab meeting room with glazed partitions, pad free furniture and a shiny resin floor doesn’t make for the best meeting experience…
We've come a long way since then and acoustics now forms the starting point of our workspace design rather than an afterthought to be solved when things go wrong.
There is now such a great kit of parts out there, many of which were showcased at the fair.
Baux are at the forefront of sound control and acoustics and their “temple of sound“ stand was a highlight.
It showcased their products and was the launchpad for their Book of Acoustics.
A handbook for architects and interior designers to give them confidence in designing around sound.
As they put it, it's really as simple as making people happy in an environment.
A successful workplace is only a success when it's a fully considered environment.
Our biggest successes at Jackdaw Studio are not always the ones that generate the most striking photographs but those that just feel right and make you want to stay and get your work done effectively and happily.
Nordgrona caught my eye with their Cork acoustic tiles called Saga.
They are a modern take on traditional shingles and come with a clever system for attachment that allows them to be fitted up easily and just as easily removed and re configured if you want a change.
This would make them a great cladding choice for flexible offices.
Bla Station were also showcasing their brilliant ARC acoustic panels in some great colours which I’m a bit of a sucker for.
They are a great example of a beautiful form coming out of function with their shape developed to both deflect and absorb sound.
BlaStation Bob
Their BOB seating range was also on show and is a brilliantly configurable sofa seating system which uses acoustic partitions to blur the line between sofa and pod.
This was another stand out throughout the show, the omnipresent rise of the pod.
Whilst they’ve been around for a long time there are now some brilliant and affordable options available thanks to some new eastern european firms who have managed to nail cheaper manufacturing costs with really great design.
There is a fine line between sensibly segregating an open plan space to create helpful areas of focus and accidentally creating a warren of cubicles. Sometimes it feels like we are going to end up with those American cubicle offices of the 80’s.
There are certainly some really great products out there to stop that happening.
Kinnarps Vibe
The Swedish workspace mega-brand Kinnarps ( dont even think of pronouncing that K, it’s Shhhhinnarps, you’re welcome ) were showcasing their VIBE acoustic screen system which looked and functioned brilliantly.
There were also a lot of phone booths. A LOT of phone booths.
The need to make a private phone call without wandering out into the car park seems to endure and it's getting better catered for but I still didn’t find an off the shelf model at the fair that I’d want to put into one of our schemes.
VG&P
It was great to meet up again with the guys from VG&P who were exhibiting at Stockholm for the first time.
I’m a massive fan of their beautiful utilitarian British made furniture and excited to discover their connection with the iconic furniture makers Isokon+ who were showing some of their greatest hits next door including the utterly charming and wonderfully named Penguin Donkey Mark 2
Mass Production Landa
Another brand that appeals to my appreciation for all things utilitarian was Mass Productions
Their Landa table impressed me with it long clean spans and legs and feet inspired by the lunar lander.
Their Roadie bench also won critics choice at the fair for best product.
Studio.6.5.22
The Greenhouse section was an inspiring collection of up and coming design.
Studio.6.5.22 caught my eye with an ingenious shelving system that appealed to my previous life as a cabinet maker, relying on perfectly cut joints and tension from powder coated panels.
Useful Workshop
Seoul based Useful Workshop were showcasing their curvature series which feel like paper folded models developed larger into clean aluminium forms.
Universal Design Studio
I managed to catch a lecture in the auditorium by Universal Design Studio entitled New Hybrids - Future spaces for Work.
Hybrid spaces think outside of the traditional definitions for what a space is for. It's about opening up opportunities to make spaces work harder. To allow them an imaginative flex to draw in a wider range of clientele and opportunities
An example was the Ace Hotel lobby which can be a co-working space in the day and closer to a speakeasy at night. There's no reason why it can't sell merchandise and coffee and flowers and records along the way too. It's about not limiting space to one function but much like activity based working, allows a versatility so the space can become something more than one prescriptive function.
It was a fascinating lecture and a concept that chimes with our approach to workspace at Jackdaw, where we maximise opportunities for versatility and flex within a space to encourage movement , collaboration and to make spaces work harder for their occupants.
scooter …
I found time for a whizz round Stockholm on an e-scooter thanks to my Uber app and couldn't miss out on a trip to the iconic Svenskt Tenn furniture shop to take a look at their new Famna 2020 sofa and some very beautiful fabrics.
On the way I was able to take a (very bumpy) spin round some of the mid century furniture shops in the cobbled streets of the old town of Gamla Stan.
For those planning next years trip, I stayed at a great boutique hotel in Sodermalm called NOFO, which I can recommend if only for the majestically confusing Scandi buffet breakfast that I never really understood but there were a lot of herring and smoothie shots…
Dinner was taken care of with simply the best authentic mexican tacos I've ever tasted at La Neta. Not very Scandi but worth a trip to Stockholm just for that.
On my way home via the airport I spotted that the omnipresent pod had even made it to the Hybrid space of the departure lounge.
This time however it was a heavily ventilated version that I watched up to 8 Swedes squeeze into at a time to drink lager and smoke cigarettes.
After the streamlined, sustainable, wellness focused offerings of the show it was amusingly retro and felt fabulously Swedish.
Next show a bit closer to home...London Design Week!
Alex