Swedish designer Jenny Nordberg has unveiled a collection of furniture at Stockholm Furniture Fair, made from used parts that are otherwise difficult to recycle.
Nordberg worked on the project with Soeco, a Swedish company that refurbishes used office furniture for the second-hand market.
The designer took parts that Soeco struggles to sell and transformed them into designs that include a conference table, a cabinet, modular seating and a linear pendant light.
Nordberg is exhibiting the collection, The Executive, in Älvsjö Gård, the section of Stockholm Furniture Fair dedicated to limited-edition design and gallery pieces.
However these designs are not just one-offs – Soeco is taking orders from customers, with plans to mass-produce some of the pieces.
“You can order everything and it’s reasonable in price,” Nordberg told Dezeen.
The project suggests how recycling might play more of a role in furniture production in future.
It was initiated by Sueco’s recently appointed CEO, Mattias Andersson, who was interested in exploring how the 12-year-old company might evolve and adapt in changing times.
Andersson gave Nordberg free rein to experiment, telling her she could work with anything the company had in its storage warehouses.
The designer describes this warehouse as “a library of possibilities”.
“I said to them, point to things you can’t sell,” she explained.
A series of sound-absorbing partition walls provided the framework for upholstered seats in a mix of sizes, all based on the dimensions of the boards as found.
“The challenge here was to create furniture with minimal alterations to the partition walls, as they are difficult to cut,” said Nordberg.
The feet and cushions were also made from recycled material. The upholstery is the only new part, made from a “naked” vegetable-tanned leather.
An undesirable jalousie cabinet was upgraded with a new paint finish and replacement doors made from plywood offcuts, featuring handles made from recycled aluminium profiles.
Old tabletops were transformed into a conference table with a surprising colour finish, produced from filler marks and lacquer paint, and a series of oddly shaped coffee tables.
“I wanted to use the shapes that were there,” said Nordberg.
“They had around 500 of these strangely shaped desktops and couldn’t sell them.”
The collection includes a hanging light made from the curved beams from the frames of height-adjustable desks, along with pen holders from old whiteboards.
There are also smaller designs, including a table lamp, a tray, vases and a wall-mounted sculpture.
Once Stockholm Furniture Fair is over, all of the works on show will be used to furnish Andersson’s office. This led to the project name, The Executive.
Soeco is a subsidiary of Yllw, an interior design company owned by leading Stockholm retailer Nordiska Galleriet (NO GA), so it is well-positioned to have a wider impact on how manufacturers work with recycled parts.
Nordberg, who is based in southern Sweden, produced all the pieces in collaboration with Soeco’s workshop team in Dalby, near Lund.
Stockholm Design Week 2025 takes place at various locations around the city from 3 to 9 February. To see what’s on, visit Dezeen Events Guide. Follow Dezeen LIVE for exclusive previews of products, installations and events.
The photography is by Robert Wåhlström.
