For the first time since its founding in 1951, the Stockholm Furniture Fair has launched a platform dedicated to collectible design. Called Älvsjö Gård – after the 16th-century manor house where it debuted earlier in February 2023 – the exhibition saw the onetime farmstead play host to experimental designers, independent galleries and innovative collectives from across Scandinavia. Älvsjö Gård 2023 included Tableau gallery from Copenhagen, Bergen’s interdisciplinary space Kiosken, Oslo-based Pyton, Stockholmmodern gallery, and design collective Navet.
The Älvsjö Gård villa’s prim setting – complete with toile de jouy curtains, floral frescos, wooden marquetry floors and Dutch master-style paintings on the walls – may have provided an imposing contrast to the often otherworldly objects on display, but the draw of the exhibition was certainly not its patrician setting.
Instead, the curation and breadth of talent spoke for themselves. Indeed, the show may have skewed towards the experimental, but the practices of many of the designers were centred firmly in craft, spanning a broad range of materials and mediums. Take, for instance, Fredrik Nielson’s ‘Mixed Emotions’ collection, which resembles fallen meteorites in varying shades of chromed, clear and coloured glass. Or Kajsa Melchior’s stalactite-like furniture made of sand and alabaster, its forms largely determined by natural forces such as wind and water.
This being Scandinavia, there was no shortage of excellent works in wood, like designer and cabinet maker Axel Wannberg’s burl wood ‘Mappa’ table lamp, desk and seating, which featured pared-back forms that highlighted the wood’s natural grain. While Veermakers, the recently launched brand from Louise Liljencrantz and KFK Cabinet Makers, showed a beautifully crafted collection of angular tables, hand-carved stools and minimal seating in polished mahogany, walnut, oak and cherry wood.
However, timber wasn’t the only material local Swedish designers excelled in. Stockholm and Milan-based Navet showed its melted candy-like ‘Jelly’ collection of mirrors, which were made in collaboration with a local Stockholm glassworks. Meanwhile glassmaker Simon Klenell showed the latest iteration of his hand-blown lamps, which look as if a deflated balloon had been cast in silver.
This year’s edition marks the first time the fair has been held since 2020 and it seems the time spent away has allowed organisers to reflect and reset. 'Being able to offer a platform with experimental work and highly crafted furniture right next to our traditional furniture fair is an important part of our strategy moving forward,' explains Hanna Nova Beatrice, project manager for Stockholm Furniture Fair and Stockholm Design Week. 'We want to mirror what’s happening in the design industry.'
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