NORDIC g in Liv ISSUE NO.4 | APRIL 2015
3 years of passion
Time flies when you’re having fun. I can’t believe it has already been 3 years since we launched Nordic Design Collective! It has been an amazing ride so far, but we are only getting started. As a part of our 3-year anniversary celebration, we gave our brand a make over. With a new logo and new styles, this magazine also got a facelift, but I hope you will still feel at home. As a part of the anniversary, we’re also hosting a competition. Flip over to page 16 to learn how to participate. We are overwhelmed by the great feedback we got from our last magazine, and have decided to make new issues more often. Each issue will still bring you to meet our designers, inspire you on the latest trends and bring you the best of what our designers has to offer you. In this issue, we’re meeting with designer Eva Levin, trendspotting on photo art and more. Welcome, and thank you for reading, following and supporting us!!
Maria Richardsson Founder and CEO of Nordic Design Collective Ps. As always, we love to hear what you think about our work! Tell us through social media or send us an e-mail. We want to hear it all - the good, the bad and the ugly.
CONTENT Pastel Spring
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3 years of passion
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Meet the designer: Noomi Spange Designer interview: Eva Levin Competition: Share to win Trend: Photo art
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Meet the designer: Details by M A day in the life of: Dan Isaac Wallin Trend: Spring jewellery
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Nordic Living is a magazine created by Nordic Design Collective, all rights reserved. www.nordicdesigncollective.com | info@nordicdesigncollective.com
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Trend
PASTEL SPRING Spring is here, and we are all turning to the pastel palette for inspiration. To add that extra spring touch to your home, don’t forget to bring some lovely flowers inside. Styling and photo: Maria Richardsson
Hanging vase The Catch by Havsglas Sverige, vases Consilium by Eva Levin (new sizes and colours for this season). Flowers from Florist Anna Gouteva, MalmĂś.
Top and left: Hanging vase The Catch by Havsglas Sverige. Right: Plate from Camilla Brøyn, Pastel bracelet and Pastel Triple ring by Sägen, bracelet by Sparv Accessories.
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s ar 3 ye OF PASSION Nordic Design Collective is more than just an online shop with beautiful products. When we launched, 3 years ago, we launched a marketplace and a platform, passionate about supporting independent designers from the Nordic region. The designers we work with are carefully selected, to make sure that they are just as passionate about their work as we are. They put their love, commitment, talent and hard work in to every product and we are proud to be working with each and every one of them.
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We want to share their stories, tell you about their everyday life, their thoughts on design and why they started their businesses. Bring you behind the scenes to get a glimpse of how they make their products and the design process that leads up to it. All products are created with passion and with a high standard. They are all sent to you directly from the designer, and they deliver the products with extra care. As our designers are all business owners, we are also doing our best to help them grow their businesses in a sustainable way. Not only by helping them with online sales, but also with other things necessary when running a company. In our store, we want to bring you inspiration and help you find the perfect fit for you, whether it being a graphical poster with an inspirational quote or a necklace with just the right attitude. We are of course offering worldwide shipping and hope that the stories we tell will help you find what your looking for. We believe in passion, entrepreneurship and good design. Welcome.
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Meet the designer
NOOMI SPANGE A few weeks back, Noomi Spange joined Nordic Design Collective, and we are very happy to have such a talented pattern designer with us. The products in her own brand are mostly textile. Look at that scarf, isn’t it just lovely?
In highschool at the department of art in my hometown Falun I tried screen printing for the first time, and fell in love! Patterns, textile and wallpaper have been in my heart ever since.
future projects. Books of all forms (as long as they’re full of pictures) and pieces of art and design history. But foremost it’s the small things of my everyday life that inspires me. It could be a beautiful color combination of various things in a trash bin at work, the beautiful small lichens on a stone or the bark of a tree. I also really enjoy looking at microscopic pictures for inspiration, it’s like getting a glimpse of another world!
A few years later I moved to Gothenburg and started studying design at HDK (the university of design and crafts) at University of Gothenburg. It’s soon to be two years since I took my bachelor degree and since then I’ve been working as a freelance designer. Besides having my own brand, I currently work as a wallpaper designer at Eco Wallpaper in Borås, Sweden.
Do you have a dream project? Maybe not a dream project, rather a lifelong dream. To some day move back to Dalarna and start up a small textile printing studio. Making handprinted textiles with inspiration from Swedish folk culture but with a contemporary approach. To cooperate with young and exiting new designers and create beautiful textiles!
Tell us about your background! For as long as I can remember I’ve been creative. As a little girl I built houses of cardboard for our dogs as well as painted pictures standing in the garden with my easel and favorite brushes.
What inspires you to create? Everything around me inspires me to create and I am always gathering inspiration for
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Meet the designer: EVA LEVIN
FINDING NEW WAYS TO CREATIVITY Based in Malmö, in the south of Sweden, Eva Levin is the designer behind the brand Scandinaviaform. Her latest products has been getting great reviews, and lately she has focused a lot on re-design and working with leftover materials from different factories. Text and photo: Maria Richardsson
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She is now well recognized as a designer, but she actually studied to be a lawyer. “Yes, I studied law, but I never practised and I’ve always studied design in different ways. While studying law I also took courses in silversmithing. Right after school, I started my own business focusing on my creative work instead, and have continued to study different areas within design” Eva tells us when we meet. Her first products were jewellery and silver, and she also did a lot of graphical design.
us. “I’m very interested in re-use and trying to use our resources in a better way”. The candlesticks were made from vintage brass and wooden candlesticks, that she combined in new ways and added a modern twist to them.
A few years ago, everything changed for Eva. Her boyfriend died in an accident and that deeply affected every aspect of her life. “In the process of getting back to life after he died, I also wanted to find a new way of working. I turned to designing more products, and my first product after I changed directions was the Re:Use candle sticks” Eva tells
Her next product, the Consilium vase, has turned out to be an even bigger hit for Eva. It was a huge success from the start and also got nominated for Formex Formidable when she presented it in August 2014! This is very unusual, and I don’t know if there is any other brand that managed to get nominated two years in a row.
They became very popular when they were first showed at the big design fair Formex in Stockholm in August of 2013, and got nominated for the award Formex Formidable as one of the 10 best new products of the exhibition.
The inspiration for the vase came from the sheer summer meadows and she wanted to create a vase that could bring that feeling indoors and to your kitchen table. The copper tube, hand cut by Eva herself, gives support for delicate flowers and puts the spotlight to the beauty of a single flower or a straw of grass. It is still her best selling product, and it is now produced in five different colours and two sizes. One of her latest products is a development of her first candlesticks. “I actually get more creative when I have clear limitations to work with, so I usually give myself a very specific project” she tells us. This time she decided to work with leftover materials in some way, so she went to a wood factory nearby and looked at what they threw away from production. The wooden block in the footer of her new votives are leftovers from a bedframe they are producing, and then she is combining that with vintage glass cups to create a beautiful votive.
As every creative, Eva’s head is always full of ideas for new products. “Oh yes, I have a whole range of products more or less ready in my head” she tells us. “I’ve always loved cooking and baking, so I would love to make something for the kitchen. I would also love to make some desk accessories for your home office”. Eva is now working with her business full time, and is paying a lot of attention to creating a financially stable business. She is not rushing the creation of new products, but we are hoping that we will see more of her ideas in production very soon. With so many past successes we are convinced that she has more great things to come!
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Competition!
SHARE TO WIN!
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Since we opened Nordic Design Collective for business 3 years ago, we’ve sold over 30 000 products (!) to happy customers all over the world. And we are so curious about where they went, so we thought - why not make this into a competition? So we did. The rules are simple: share a picture of a product you ordered from us, and get the chance to win a gift card! All details are available in our blog, and we need your submission by May 17, 2015.
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TREND: PHOTO ART
From top left: Linköping by Ove Rahm, Birches by Dan Isaac Wallin, Hamn IV by Lucky me studios, Birds by Carolines, Skugghjärta by Havsglas Sverige, Arcil light by Details by M, Blåmussla by Havsglas Sverige, Aciarium, Skir and Silk by Details by M, Fabrication I by cjohanson foto, Alone and Amundön III by Dan Isaac Wallin, Edifice I by cjohanson foto, Fever by Dan Isaac Wallin, Fabcrication II by cjohanson foto, OHM V and OHM XI by Ove Rahm, Havsporslin by Havsglas Sverige, Mounted mountain by cjohanson foto.
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Posters are one of the most popular categories on our site. For a long time, it has been all about illustrations and typographical posters, but now the trend is shifting towards photography.
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Meet the designer
DETAILS BY M Photography is a growing trend, just as trying to bring the nature indoors in different ways. Our new designer Details by M is combining the two trends and Maria, the photographer behind the brand, is creating beautiful posters of greens in different shapes, forms and stages. Tell us about your background! My interest for interior, art and design developed when I moved to Stockholm for the second time, after studying economics and real estate for three years at Karlstad University. When I later bought my first SLR camera, I discovered that I could create art by using a camera instead of a pencil, and from there on there was no stopping me. In contrast to many other designers here at Nordic Design Collective I am mostly self-taught, even though I have taken some short photography courses at Fotografiska in Stockholm, among others. In September of 2013 I decided to arrange my own vernissage in December that same year, and from that point I felt really inspired. This is for example where the pieces Perfection and Pomegranate were created. I believe that these things became the starting point for me to find the courage and finally start my own company, something I had been dreaming about for several years. It is among the best things I have done so far, and I am very excited about the future of Details by M.
What inspires you to create? I am very inspired by the nature and plants, which can be seen when looking at my photo art. I want my pictures to bring harmony into the room and I am passionate about combining harmony and contrasts in my art. Other creative people and all the talented designers here at Nordic Design Collective also inspires me to develop Details by M into creating more than photo art. Since I started Details by M, I totally have changed the way I look at my environment; I constantly see new possibilities to create new designs. We are always surrounded by a beautiful imagery in our everyday life. You just have to look for it.
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A day in the life of
DAN ISAAC WALLIN The very talented artist/photographer Dan Isaac Wallin is based in Gothenburg, Sweden. We asked him to take us behind the scenes for a day in his life, using Instagram. MORE ONLINE
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08.20: Good morning everyone! The porridge is in the stomach so let’s start the workday.
09.31: This is Atelier 51. Big mess att the moment. We are moving from 2 studios into one.
10.36: Now most of the orders are packed. Only one big one left to Japan. Here you see the poster “BIRCHES”, a quite new one.
10.46: And this is me!
12.41: My work used as interior design. Photo by Jonas Berg. Here you see the posters Fairyland and Passage.
15.02: Today is no photo shoot but here is what it looks when I work. A bit old school and not like most of other photographers.
15.07: I do alot of portraits as well. Here is one, hope you like it! See previous picture of how I shot it.
16.48: My polaroid treasure. Thats the material I use when I work. Lucky I bought alot during the years.
17.18: The poster “HAVÄNG”. Picture from @solveigsdotter
18.16: I and artist Ebbot Lundberg worked together with new pictures for his upcoming solo album.
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Trend
SPRING JEWELLERY The best way to update you wardrobe is to add some new jewellery! For spring, we are looking for pastel colours, silver and brass. Add a simple and clean touch to inspiration from nature and you’re all set.
From top left: Aunt Betty necklace by Langaeble Stockholm, Minsttar necklace by Sara Björne, Margareta necklace by Kumvana Gomani, Empress Parisa necklace by Langaeble Stockholm, Birch bracelet and earrings by JohannaN, Virdi and Pepita bracelet by Sara Björne, Hornbug brooch by Maja Ternström, Frank and Meggie earrings by Opium Jewelry, Pastel Light Triple ring and Harlequin ring by Sägen, Lisa ring by Opium Jewelry, RangNok ring by JohannaN and Salix ring by Sägen. Right: Pastel Pink bangle and Pastel Cloud necklace by Sägen.
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