The Dezeen team are reporting live from Stockholm Design Week in the Swedish capital, where blown glass, woven grass and wiggly furniture caught our collective eye on 4 February.
6.00pm – put a plug in it
For the last post in our live coverage from Tuesday in Stockholm, Dezeen’s design editor Jennifer Hahn misquotes René Magritte: ceci n’est pas une butt plug, she writes, about what is, the designer claims, in fact a large wooden stool created by Konstfack student Adam Fredrik Olsson as a tongue-in-cheek parody on the design industry and its gender skew.
Also being exhibited as part of the Konstfack show at Stockholm Furniture Fair is a series of furniture by Björn Olsson made using mycelium, which was used to clean toxic contaminants from a local industrial area in a process known as mycoremediation.
5.45pm – call me maybe
Fredrick Nielsen invited journalists into his neon pink workshop to blow glass and drink champagne from the heaviest and most decadent goblets Stockholm has probably ever seen.
The Swedish artist emblazons his mobile number onto most of his work, including on a large bronze coin which is installed at a school, often leading to phone calls from baffled members of the public, he told Dezeen.
5.15pm – crocheted grass chair
The same rush grass used to make tatami mats has been made into ropes and crocheted into upholstery to create the Igusa rope chair by Japanese studio Tokyo Product.
“There is currently only one craftsman in Japan who has this skill,” said founder Yoshiaki Koda.
Sadly, the base is still made from polyurethane foam, but Koda says the chair is still in development, so there is room for improvement. – Jennifer Hahn
4.45pm – scented sanctuary
Swedish design studio All Matters Studio has created a peaceful space where visitors can escape the hustle and bustle of the fair and experience a scent installation.
Designed for its artisan perfume brand En Doft, the minimalist space features a wooden walkway which leads visitors into all-white spaces scented by the brand.
As well as premiering its new Insula Mane scent, with top notes of bergamot and eucalyptus, visitors can experience its woody Domus Sanctus perfume.
All Matters Studio decorated the space with naked tree branches and alchemists’ bottles. The result is a calming stand with a more sensory experience – leading one visitor to wonder why all fairs don’t think more about how they smell. – Cajsa Carlson
Find out about All Matters Studio’s other event happening this week – a flower shop takeover ›
4.15pm – Dezeen Dispatch spotted in the wild
4.00pm – defiantly knobbly furniture
Norwegian designer Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng is showing as part of Hanna Nova Beatrice‘s Älvsjö Gård project for experimental and collectible design at the fair.
Using American hard maple leftover from a previous project, Øfstedel Eng has created a series of knobbly furniture that echoes the defiant twists and turns of tree roots.
“Wood is so strong,” she told Dezeen’s Jane Englefield at the fair. “If it wants to force itself into a fence, it will.”
3.30pm – pack your snus
Perhaps the most Swedish thing we’ve seen so far is this project by designer Melissa Ciardullo, which explores alternative packaging solutions for snus – tobacco pouches that are stuffed under the upper lip and left to dissolve.
Swedes currently smoke the least out of all Europeans, but snus is used daily by 14 per cent of adult Swedes, creating a huge amount of plastic packaging waste.
Ciardullo’s project – part of an exhibition on Plastic Perspectives in Stockholm Furniture Fair‘s Hall C – explores the pros and cons of switching to reusable tins or bioplastic packaging. – Jennifer Hahn
3.00pm – Swedish design is f***ing amazing
Swedish design has long been associated with minimalism – or IKEA, whose affordable, practical furniture is now synonymous with the country around the world. But in recent years, Sweden’s design scene has become increasingly varied.
With a difficult economic environment contributing to an uptick in innovative design, designers are blending traditional craft with new technology and focusing on sustainability.
Cajsa Carlson takes the temperature of the country’s design, speaking with designers about emerging trends amidst chatter that Swedish design is having a “more interesting moment” than in the ’90s.
2.00pm – last night’s dinner
Deputy editor Cajsa Carlson started her week in Stockholm with a dinner at textile brand Svensson‘s showroom in Södermalm.
Svensson worked with designer Shane Schneck and fashion designer Angelo da Silveira on the exhibition, Malleables, which saw them create new types of products from Svensson’s leftover materials.
Schneck designed a collection of squishy sofas and stools from foam and textile, while Da Silveria made reversible vests that will be worn by Svensson staff. The exhibition will remain on show for a few months.
And while the vegetarian dinner by Studio Marion lacked the ubiquitous Swedish meatball, it did feature a round dish – tasty Tuscan Gnudi dumplings filled with basil and ricotta.
1.45pm – Dezeen design disruptors
Dezeen design and environment editor Jennifer Hahn is moderating a fascinating discussion in our second Design Disruptors talk, titled Materials of the future.
Addressing a full auditorium at Stockholm Furniture Fair, the panel tackle the knotty subject of moving away from harmful materials, writes Max Fraser.
“We need a thousand different alternatives, not just one solution,” said Celine Sandberg as her company Agoprene tackles fossil fuel-derived polyurethane foam with seaweed-based alternative. “Ours is just one of them.”
“The expectations around scale of sales is not compatible with the finite resources that are available,” said Natsai Audrey Chieza. “We have to work out how to replace petroleum, but there are many complex systems we need to unpick first.”
Note Design Studio‘s Cristiano Pigazzini said “quite often it is time and money that trips up progress. Companies are not willing to invest in those things when developing a new product.”
1.00pm – six emerging designers
Although originally conceived as a way for Swedish manufacturers to launch products, Stockholm Furniture Fair now shines an almost equally sized spotlight on young, up-and-coming designers.
Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn has picked the ones to watch for 2025.
Taking place from 4 to 8 February, Stockholm Furniture Fair (SFF) is Scandinavia’s biggest design fair and the anchor event of Stockholm Design Week.
For work by emerging talents, head to the Greenhouse area in Hall C and Hanna Nova Beatrice’s collectible design exhibition Älvsjö Gård in Hall A.
12.30pm – I love lamp
Unofficial icon of the fair is this woman dressed like a lamp. Who is she? Where is she going? Will she ever take it off? I guess we’ll never know! [Ed. note: we will if you go and ask her, Jen!]
12.15pm – ICYMI
Dezeen is now in print! Those at Stockholm Design Week can pick up Dezeen Dispatch at various locations across the city. Everyone else can read a digital version of the newspaper here.
Written by the Dezeen editorial team, the 40-page newspaper-style publication contains features and interviews along with our highlights of this year’s event.
The publication, the first of its kind for Dezeen, will be available for free at venues throughout the design week (3-9 February).
11.45am – Milan lends a hand
Stockholm has long lacked an equivalent to Milan’s legendary Bar Basso – an après-furniture fair watering hole where designers and industry insider can gather for a negroni sbagliato or three.
But this year, Stockholm Design Week kicked off with a cocktail evening at the Nobis Hotel’s Guldbaren, organised in collaboration with Basso’s very own Maurizio Stocchetto, who flew in from Italy for the occasion.
The golden mirror-panelled bar is hoping to establish itself as the festival’s go-to place to see and be seen – Jennifer Hahn
11.30am – is AI too good?
Faye Toogood is now on the main stage of Stockholm Furniture Fair for the keynote talk, with Dezeen’s deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.
Toogood asks “surely AI can design an AI-Faye Toogood chair better than Faye Toogood?”
“If we don’t hold onto craftsmanship, we will lose it,” she adds. “The role of a designer is to connect more to humanity and the human action of working with our hands.” – Max Fraser
This talk is part of Design Disruptors: Dezeen talks at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025.
Find out more on Dezeen Events Guide ›
Carlson interviewed Toogood ahead of this year’s event – check it out below.
11.15am – Swedish models!
Local office Note Design Studio is showing its debut architecture project at its city showroom, which is set within a former bank and still features an old telephone booth and the original vault – now used as a (very) secure meeting room.
The project is Villa Ottsjö, a timber-clad house close to Åre, northern Sweden. Positioned on a hilly site, the home is made up of three identical volumes with pitched roofs.
Interlinked but offset from each other, the buildings were arranged to maximise windows and make the most of the rural setting.
“It was to follow the height curves better, but also it means that each volume gets a small glimpse of the mountains,” architect Jesper Mellgren told Dezeen.
Villa Ottsjö is Note Design Studio’s first foray into architecture and more projects are in the works – Jane Englefield
11.00am – embarrassing things
Guest of honour Faye Toogood has taken over the entrance hall of the Stockholm Furniture Fair with an installation titled Manufracture, aiming to “demystify the process of designing and making”.
“This is an installation where I’ve emptied my archive,” she told journalists. “It’s almost a live sketchbook. It’s showing things that I’m embarrassed about.”
“It’s showing things that never went into production,” she added. “There is a resin table in the corner, which is a material I wouldn’t choose today.” – Jennifer Hahn
Find out more about Stockholm Furniture Fair on Dezeen Events Guide ›
10.30am – frank in the loom
The beloved Swedish heritage brand Svenkst Tenn, 140 years after the birth of designer and longtime collaborator Frank Josef, is showing an in-store exhibition as an homage to Josef.
Titled Frank in the Loom, the show features a collection of handwoven rag rugs crafted from repurposed textiles originally designed by Josef, combined with Svenskt Tenn’s signature linen – Jane Englefield
10.15am – Dezeen Dispatch
On the eve of Stockholm Design Week, Dezeen hosted a welcome dinner at the National Museum.
Staged in partnership with Nordic Nest, the dinner took place in the grand environs of the museum’s Södra Ljusgården and brought together international journalists and Stockholm’s design community.
Throughout the evening, representatives from Nordic brands Iittala, Fritz Hansen, Audo Copenhagen, Gärsnäs and Louis Poulsen introduced new products to the audience.
The evening culminated in the unveiling of Dezeen’s new print publication, Dezeen Dispatch.
Guests keenly perused their copies, including Claesson Koivisto Rune‘s Eero Koivisto who gave it a solid thumbs up – Max Fraser
10:00am – hej Stockholm!
Dezeen’s editorial director Max Fraser, editor-at-large Amy Frearson, deputy editor Cajsa Carlson, design editor Jennifer Hahn, social editor Clara Finnigan and design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield are on the ground in Stockholm reporting from Stockholm Design Week (SDW).
Dezeen is hosting a series of events in the city this year, including our Design Disruptors talks, the Dezeen Awards 2025 launch party and an event celebrating the first-ever Dezeen newspaper (which launched last night – more to follow soon!).
Dezeen Events Guide has created an SDW guide, highlighting the key events at the festival this year.
As the 2025 event gets under way, take a look at ten unmissable exhibitions and installations – including Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025, a pop-up by Form Us With Love and an exhibition by David Taylor at Bukowskis auction house.
See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
All times are Stockholm time.
The lead image is by Jane Englefield.
