The Stories Behind
The stories that infuse the objects and places that surround us are an evergreen preoccupation for designers and design lovers. This week will see Disegno attend the Stockholm Furniture Fair, at which we will host a series of talks centred around the theme “Unearthing Narratives”, exploring the relationships between histories, places and spaces, and how they influence a project.
Hosted by Oli Stratford, Disegno’s editor-in-chief, the conversations are open and free to all visitors to the fair. The mixture of panel and keynote talks feature speakers including Faye Toogood, Folkform, Industrial Facility, and Hall.Haus. The talks will ask questions such as: how can we build using salvaged materials? What is the role of research within design? And what impact does a social or anthropological approach have on a designer’s body of work?
These themes touch on elements seen across the fair more widely. 2024 sees Formafantasma attend as the fair’s guest of honour, as part of which the studio has created an installation dubbed the Reading Room. Found within the entrance hall of the fair, the Reading Room is a calm enclave in which visitors are invited to peruse books on the subjects of sustainability, ecology and forestry and watch films created by the the studio.
Formafantasma with their T Shelf, designed for Hem (image by Marco Cappelletti, courtesy of Stockholm Furniture Fair).
Meanwhile, design studio Lab La Bla will present its research around crafting waste streams into industrial materials. In its installation The Surface Club, wall panels will be made from recycled Tetra Pak packaging, and discarded wine corks and mining dust used as a coating for surfaces. Design studio Folkform is also interested in the history and future of past materials, and will present its body of research in the Museum of Masonite, an installation working with some of the last original hardboards manufactured at a Masonite factory in Rundvik, Sweden.
Details of Disegno’s talk series can be found below, whilst further information on the fair’s exhibitors and programming can be found online at the Stockholm Furniture Fair website.
Anna Holmquist of Folkform working on The Museum of Masonite (image courtesy of Stockholm Furniture Fair).
Design as Excavation: A Q&A with Faye Toogood
Designer Faye Toogood has described her practice as a form of excavation: an act of uncovering elementary forms within material, which frequently draws from natural landscapes and history for its inspiration. In this interview Toogood will discuss how this exploratory approach binds her work, that spans the creative disciplines of fashion, furniture and sculpture, together.
WHEN: 11am, Thursday 8 February
––
Salvage: How can we build from existing things?
This panel discussion examines where the opportunities and challenges lie when working with unwanted, overlooked or waste materials. Designers Marco Campardo, Akanksha Deo Sharma and Jenny Nordberg will explore the forces – from ecological crises to war damage, to recognising the beauty of nature – that are encouraging this salvage-led design direction.
WHEN: 1pm, Thursday 8 February
––
Design through Research: A Q&A with Industrial Facility
The day will conclude with a talk from designers Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, the founders of Industrial Facility who have become known for the depth and rigour of their research process. The Q&A will peel back the curtain on their meticulous approach to studying a project, its context, ambitions and constraints to produce meaningful products in the 21st century.
WHEN: 2pm, Thursday 8 February
––
The Designer as Anthropologist
The final conversation brings themes of research, narrative and social engagement to the stage. The panel brings together Sammy Bernoussi of Hall.Haus, Anna Holmquist of Folkform and Mira Bergh Edenborg and Josefin Zachrisson of Swedish Girls, who will reflect on the potentials and pitfalls of research-led methods of design.
WHEN: 1pm, Friday 9 February
Details
All events will take place at Stockholm Furniture Fair Talks - The Yellow Thread bar & stage area, Hall A.
No RSVP is required, the talks are open to all fair goers.