Design Diary – Week Nine

Last week I had the privilege to meet with designer Karl Malmvall of Design House Stockholm and formerly Ikea. He showed me around the DHS office and gave me some insight into how many of their products are produced. As a publishing company, Design House Stockholm works in cooperation with outside designers and studios to realize their concepts and projects. They do not have any projects of their own. Their collection provides a fantastic representative model of where Scandinavian Design stands today. The genre has always been heavily based on the integration of traditional handcrafting knowledge into industrial manufacturing methods. Knowledge that was once essential to the act of creating, inherited from generation to generation. It was good to see DHS still applying some classic methods to achieve contemporary products. So far, many of the makers and designers I have met have had at least some exposure to some sort of craftsmanship. I find understanding the behavior of the tangible world an indispensable form of knowledge in creating a product. It is something that I fear is in danger of disappearing with the push towards digitalization. A gap that is potentially opening between designer and consumer. It is important for the future makers to stay grounded in the real world and evolve past methods by employing new technologies to create a whole new method greater than the sum of its parts.

The stark white and black/stoic aesthetic, the colorful motifs; before I didn’t really understand how a single style could contain such contrasting elements. Organic and geometric? Monochromatic and vibrant? It makes more sense now, reading, observing and experiencing the Swedish attitude towards nature. It’s a celebration of the seasons, the cold contrast of winter’s black sky to white snow vs. the vibrance of rich summer hues and lush troll forests and fauna. When I arrived in August, the day was long and colorful. Now, the sun is setting around 4:30. It’s a completely different atmosphere and in turn, a completely different state of mind. The forms that reflect the northern folk’s interpretation of their environment is common sense, if not a bit subconscious. The perfect reaction to the moods of the seasons. And no-nonsense common sense is a very strong theme in Scandinavian Design; straight and to the point, just like the people.

Codee Adams
Product Designer