Scandinavian Design For a long time, art has been heavily influenced by the social and political landscape. Searching through history, we find that while the social views of a certain period may no longer be relevant, the art and design of that time often are. Designers today constantly draw inspiration from history, consciously and unconsciously. Being aware of that history and knowing what has come before in your field can help you better convey the meaning in your work and forge deeper connections to your environment (artistic, social, political, etc.). Looking back to the beginning of the 20th century and the styles and movements that ruled the art world at that time, we will look for influences and ideas that have evolved into what has been known since the mid-20th century as “Scandinavian design”. While the countries of Scandinavia have extreme differences, they do have some common cultural, geophysical and historical threads. Scandinavia means the countries of Northern Europe: Denmark, Sweden, Norway. Design from there is described by many as being fairly minimalist, with clean simple lines. Highly functional, the style is effective without needing heavy elements; only what is needed is used. Survival in the north required products to be functional, and this was the basis of all design from early on. The subtle decorative qualities stemming from the early-20th century art movements and the simple lines deriving from the inter-war art movements gave this style its elegance. The concept of “beautiful things that make your life better” was highly regarded. Scandinavian design is often referred to as democratic design, because of its aim to appeal to the masses through products that are accessible and affordable.
This ideology comes from local institutions, such as the long-established Swedish Society of Industrial Design. The goal of this association was to promote design that the general public could access and enjoy. Such goals were greatly affected by social changes taking place in Europe at the time. Even though the designs were democratic and meant for the masses, they were not stripped of all beauty in order to make them as easy to use as possible; an inspiring thought. The importance of this balance was identified by Scandinavians early on and has been maintained ever since. The term “Scandinavian design” originates from a design show that traveled the US and Canada under that name from 1954 to 1957. Promoting the “Scandinavian way of living,” it exhibited various works by Nordic designers and established the meaning of the term that continues to today: beautiful, simple, clean designs, inspired by nature and the northern climate, accessible and available to all, with an emphasis on enjoying the domestic environment. Exhibitions like these played a big role in spreading the word about Scandinavian design and in influencing the development of modernism in North America and Europe in many ways. The aesthetic had been evolving for decades by that time and was strongly influenced by art and design in Europe. It combined the trends that had emerged around the turn of the century, the clean forms that followed, as well as existing traditions in Scandinavia.
The styles and movements brewing in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century spread around the world. While they didn’t espouse the same message, they all contributed to the establishment of new forms and functions. Modernism’s scope was far and wide and developed differently in each country. The ideology spread throughout Scandinavia, with designers and artists interacting with their contemporaries throughout Europe, aided by fast-developing media such as film. In Scandinavia, the ideas gradually evolved into design principles and philosophies that eventually had international effects. Scandinavian designers were influenced by everything going on around them. With their tradition of craftsmanship and efficient use of limited material resources (due to their relative geographic isolation), they combined the best of both worlds. In line with prevailing democratic social views, everything was made to be available to everyone. The notion of enjoying the work you do was highly regarded, and the idea that beautiful things could enrich people’s lives was kept alive. Early in the 20th century, with more and more people moving from the countryside to cities, the Society broadened its scope and committed to raising standards of design in everyday life. The quest to make objects of high aesthetic quality available to the masses began in earnest during the 1920s and ’30s. Mass machine production did not dominate Scandinavia as much in the years between the two World Wars as it did in the US. The scale of the industry was much smaller, and after World War II more Scandinavian countries established institutions and schools to preserve the craft traditions. Processes derived from the crafts were integrated into commercial production, creating what became known as the industrial arts. The thread running through Scandinavian design is functionalism. For hundreds of years, the need for products to just work was ingrained in the Scandinavian soul. It hadn’t been very long since this was a requirement for survival. The focus was on “need,” or function, not on decoration or beauty. Moving into the machine age, surviving became easier, and functionalism evolved into also meeting the emotional needs of people. This gave Nordic functionalism a more natural and humanistic side.
Re-turned
Luxo Lamp
In the middle of he 1930s Jacobsen designed a variation of the Anglepoise, which he named the Luxor L-1. The Luxor below incorporates a similar auto-balancing system of springs based upon the constant tension principle of human limbs. Jacobsen’s company Luxor still sells the classic Luxor L-1. The Luxor has won numerous design awards and is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Luxor has been imitated over the years but these imitations do not better the technical performance of the original. It is noted for the ease at which the shade and arm are articulated.
Tripp Trapp-chair
The designer Peter Opsvik created the Tripp Trapp-chair in 1972, and the chair is still considered unique in its functions and appearance. In 1972 when released to the people it was greeted into all homes as the only chair who could follow you on the road from a baby to grown up. Peter Opsvik was inspired by his own son, Tor, who struggled to find a comfortable sitting position. He had already grown out of his old fashion child seat, but still unable to fit a chair for adults. “My was to create one chair that could serve all kind of sizes in a natural way. My hope was that this would contribute to a more positive ambient when sitting by the table and make it easier to perform different activities when doing so.
Ostehøvelen (the cheese slicer)
was created by master carpenter Thor Bjørklund from Lillehammer in 1925, and the production of it started in 1927. It annoyed Bjørklund that it was so difficult to get nice cuts from the cheese when using the knife. Ostehøvelen can be used for cutting or peeling for many fruits and vegetables. The invention may not be recognized on a global scale, but it is a “mandatory” in every Norwegian household.
The “Re-turned”-concepts elevates leftover wood from being merely an ignored piece of trash to becoming a desired piece of feel-good woodcraft. A 100% recycled item, perfect as a housewarming-gift to someone with a big heart for Mother Nature. Perhaps they were once the part of a loving household as a supportive table-leg or an armrest. Perhaps they never made it from their roots in the woods and into a finished piece of furniture, but got cut off somewhere along the way. Either way, they’re given a new shot at life as a perfect starting point for a “Re-turned”-bird.
The Vang chair
The wooden chair in the Vang series is built and constructed around a sturdy encompassing framework. The uprights that form the backrest and the way they are connected to the seat, is a theme that comes directly from Alf Sture´s Windsor chairs, designed for Tonning in the 1960s. The stick-backtheme is reworked to fit into a modern context. The steam-bent top-piece, that has been used by a number of designers through the years, is today recognized as a classic scandinavian design element. Originally this motif came from China. The toppiece was common in chairs from the Ming period. The technique is traditional; joint fittings and glue.
Imeüble
This project made by Bjørn Jørund Blikstad works with your mind to help you store information the same way you learn to associate words to their meanings! ”When you read the word cornfield, you imagine a field full of corn, not the word cornfield.” In that the shelf appears to be 2D but is actually 3D, this whole system works in the same environment of learning. As you look at the shelves, they appear to be flat, sideways, weird in some way or another to your eyes. In reality, they’re simple plastic, shaped in a way that instills an image that’s much stronger than it’s actual simple function. Thus it’s relationship to how spoken/ written words work – while the word itself is quite simple, what it represents can be quite complicated. Bjørn Jørund Blikstad hopes to inspire you to take another look at what storing items on these shelves really means.
Elements
PH Artichoke
The PH Artichoke is considered to be a classical masterpiece made by Poul Henningsen more than 40 years ago. The structure is made of twelve steel arches. On this structure PH placed 72 copper “leaves” in twelve circular rows with six blades in each row. Because each row is staggered from the previous, all 72 leaves are able to “cover for each other”. This design allows viewing the fixture from any angle without being able to see the light source located in the center of the PH Artichoke. The original PH Artichokes were developed for a restaurant in Copenhagen called the Langelinie Pavilion, and they are still hanging there today.
Vipp
The year is 1939 - Holger Nielsen and Marie Axelsen have just married. A trained hairdresser, Marie decides to open her own salon. Money is tight so Marie asks her husband to help furnish the salon with, among other things, a practical rubbish bin. After spending many days labouring in his workshop, Holger is ready to show Marie his Vipp pedal bin – and she is delighted with the result. Originally, the Vipp bin was intended for Marie only. However, many wives of doctors and dentists have their hair done at Marie’s salon and find the Vipp bin perfect for their husbands’ clinics, particularly in light of its practical and sturdy design. Thus the pedal bin soon becomes a permanent feature of Danish clinics.
The Series 7
The Series 7 was designed by Arne Jacobsen is by far one of his most recognized creations and one of the most sold chairs furniture history. The pressure moulded veneer chair is a further development of the classic Ant™ chair. The four-legged stackable chair can be seen as the culmination of the use of the lamination technique. The visionary Arne Jacobsen exploited the possibilities of lamination to perfection resulting in the iconic shape of the chair. It is lightweight and stackable and offers options such as armrests, castors etc. The chair is offered in several different types of wood each with it´s own unique wood grain pattern, reflecting a comprehensive palette of natural wood tones and hues. It is also offered as the same chairs in a range of painted versions, in truly distinctive colours to compliment your home or office.
After several years of close collaboration with the Danish porcelain factory Royal Copenhagen, we are finally ready to show the results of or efforts. The brief: to design a brand new, yet 100% recognisable as Royal Copenhagen, full dinner service, which focuses on all the fine traditional qualities of the company whilst still gently pushing the boundaries, has been one of our greatest challenges to date. The service will grow bit by bit, year after year from now. Design: Louise Campbell Year: 2008 Manufacturer: Royal Copenhagen Materials: Procelain
Beddo
Beddo is japanese for bed and the inspiration comes from the ultimate piece of resting furniture, namely the bed. The woolen duvets create a sculptural and changeable upholstery to the minimal sofa. Beddo invites us down to floor height when we want to rest which makes us move all joints and muscles. With this small extra effort we can actually make resting healthy. Creator: Christina Liljenberg Halstrøm
This washing-up bowl adds a poetic element to a repetitive and sometimes tiresome routine, and can be characterised as a piece of industrial handicraft. Story behind the design goes as follows: One day, while washing up in his kitchen at home, Ole Jensen felt reluctant to put his fragile porcelain and glass straight into the stainless steel sink. He also noticed that the sink’s shape was very inflexible in relation to unusual kinds of dishes and tableware, and the idea of a flexible washing-up bowl began to take shape in his mind. The idea was that the washing-up bowl should adapt its shape to whatever object lay in it, so Ole decided to use a flexible material, such as rubber. He then designed the prototype, hand-working the model on his potter’s wheel until the shape was right. The washing-up brush is made of Chinese pig bristles bent and glued to the wood. The brush is produced according to old production techniques. The washing-up bowl was awarded the prestigious International Design Plus Prize in 2002.
Pitcher 856A
Sigvard Bernadotte Prince Sigvard Bernadotte was trained at the Kungliga Konstakademien in Stockholm in 1929. The following year he saw the Stockholm exhibition of Gunnar Asplund, which marked the breakthrough of functionalism. This influenced Bernadotte’s own style and he incorporated the ideals of functional elegance into his design thenceforth. Shortly afterwards, Prince Sigvard Bernadotte and Georg Jensen began a long and fruitful cooperation, in which the new functionalism was at the centre of a more modern interpretation of the work of silver. The prince’s long affiliation with Georg Jensen represents another chapter in the rich history of Scandinavian design. His Bernadotte collection has been and continues to be a favourite for generations.
Stringhyllan (the string bookshelf) In 1949 Nils(Nisse) and Kajsa Strinning designed “Stringhyllan”. It is made of wood veneer shelf plan which is hanging by plastic coated metal strings. It all began when the library of Bonnier had a competition in 1949, where they wanted a bookshelf with the possibility to change the size according to whichever needs required. “Nisse” and Kajsa sent in their suggestion (which later will obtain the name String) to the library and won the competition. After it was shown on the great H55-exebition in Helsinki in 1955 it became an international success far into the 1960s.
Berså
A man of creativity, playful, modernist, an artistic personality would be some descriptions would not be even close to explaining Stig Lindbergs personality. Just after he finished his studies he went to Gustavbergs factory of porcelain, where he applied for a job through the summer. The economy of the factory had seen better times, therefore Hjalmar Olsen(the chief at that time) could not guarantee him any position at the factory. Lindbergs answer to that was: ”If you hire me, I will see to that there will be work to do at this factory”. In the 50s and in the beginning of the 60s Lindbergs porcelaindesign had its breakthrough and were big hits at that time and for many still are.
The brief was to design a desk that didn’t reveal everything at first glance and would stand out in a discreet way. The choice of a desk was the result of that a journeyman project demands certain elements of construction and functions to be accepted for judgment by the jury. I designed an architects ”black box” desk that combined the old analogue approach of built-in rulers and sketchpaper rolls with new needs like USB and power outlets. ”Pine is fine” is a shared motto of Karolina Stenfelt and Kristoffer Fagerstrom and his idea of basing the desk solely on Swedish pine truly put the cabinet maker Karolina to the test. And if that wasn’t enough he wanted to use charred wood as surface finish. Pine is a soft material and the charring was hopefully going to give the wood a hardened surface. There was no approved technique for charring pine veneer and especially no approved technique to create and conform the intricate intarsia pattern that covers the desk. Weeks of experimenting with burning veneer finally gave results and the work could commence. Contrast was the keyword through the project. Pine is a versatile material and Kristoffer wanted the desk to express pine from its very best side to its very ”worst”. The exterior is covered with the experimental burned veneer in a fishbone pattern and when you open the desk the inside is covered with the finest selection of golden pine in the same pattern. Kristoffer designed a tar burned steel frame to carry the ”black box”. The tar burning of the steel covered the shiny welding forges along with the rest of the frame with a varied sooted surface. Custom made brass fittings as locks, rulers and hinges gleam against the sooted surface, referring to the fire used for burning the veneer. Cabinet maker Karolina Stenfelt and NOTE Design studio investigates the possibilites of developing a limited edition series of the desk.
Title Wood Lamp Object Desk Lamp Design TAF Gabriella Gustafson & Mattias Ståhlbom Date 2010
The Wood Lamp was originally designed as a limited edition for an installation for RH Chairs is now put into production by the Danish Company Muuto. The Wood Lamp is also part of the Danish Design Museum. The all-wood lamp is a lo-tech counterweight to the usually very modern and technical desk lamps. All details on the lamp are chosen through a pragmatic perspective and all bolts, screws and joints are emphasized. By using very simple methods we have been able to give Wood Lamp a very honest and iconic expression.
Common Materials
In Scandinavian Design you will often see three materials beeing used: - leather - wood - steel As the style is based on the nature and functionality the design tends to use resources which can be found in natural enviroments.
Primitive man hunted wild animals for food; he removed the hides and skins from the dead animal carcass and used them as crude tents, clothing and footwear. The earliest record of the use of leather dates from the Palaeolithic period, cave paintings discovered in caves near Lerida in Spain depict the use of leather clothing. The skins rapidly putrefied and became useless, so a method of preservation was needed. The earliest method was to stretch the hides and skins on the ground to dry, rubbing them with fats and animals brains while they dried. This had a limited preserving and softening action. Primitive man discovered also that the smoke of wood fires could preserve hides and skins, as did treating them with an infusion of tannin-containing barks, leaves, twigs and fruits of certain trees and plants. Through the centuries leather manufacture expanded steadily and by mediaeval times most towns and villages had a tannery, situated on the local stream or river, which they used as a source of water for processing and as a source of power for their water wheel driven machines. With the discovery and introduction of basic chemicals like lime and sulphuric acid, tanners gradually abandoned their traditional methods and leather production slowly became a chemically based series of processes. The growth of industrialisation in the 18th and 19th centuries created a demand for many new kinds of leathers, eg belting leathers to drive the machines being introduced into industry, special leathers for use in looms in the textile industry, leathers for use as diaphragms and washers, leathers for use in transport and for furniture upholstery. At the end of the nineteenth century, the invention of the motor car, modern roads, new ranges of coal tar dyestuffs, the demand for softer, lightweight footwear with a fashionable appearance, and a general rise in the standard of living created a demand for soft, supple, colourful leather. The traditional vegetable tanned leather was too hard and thick for these requirements and thus, the use of the salts of the metal chromium was adopted and chrome tanning became the tannage for modern footwear and fashion leathers. It produces soft, supple, beautiful and fine leathers, reflecting the way we live.
Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, houses and boats. Nearly all boats were made out of wood until the late 19th century, and wood remains in common use today in boat construction. New domestic housing in many parts of the world today is commonly made from timber-framed construction. Engineered wood products are becoming a bigger part of the construction industry. They may be used in both residential and commercial buildings as structural and aesthetic materials. In buildings made of other materials, wood will still be found as a supporting material, especially in roof construction, in interior doors and their frames, and as exterior cladding. Wood has always been used extensively for furniture, such as chairs and beds. Also for tool handles and cutlery, such as chopsticks, toothpicks, and other utensils, like the wooden spoon. Further developments include new lignin glue applications, recyclable food packaging, rubber tire replacement applications, anti-bacterial medical agents, and high strength fabrics or composites.As scientists and engineers further learn and develop new techniques to extract various components from wood, or alternatively to modify wood, for example by adding components to wood, new more advanced products will appear on the marketplace.
Steel is all around us. It is used in major constructions such as skyscrapers, stadiums, roads and railways, as well as smaller product design such as bolts, nails and screws. Steel is in fact a mix or ‘alloy’ of iron and anywhere between 0.2 and 2.1 per cent carbon. It’s that carbon content that gives steel its hardness. Making steel, however, is a relatively new human capability. Pre-100 AD: Steel has been produced on a small scale for thousands of years. The earliest known steel is about 4,000 years old and was excavated in Turkey. Roman, Iberian and Chinese civilisations used steel to construct weapons. However, these ancient civilisations had yet to master methods of producing steel and so its uses were limited and subject to very long production times. 300 BC – 1700 AD: The era of the legendary Damascus Steel. The secrets of producing Damascus steel have been lost to time, but the artefacts it produced have not. While the history of Damascus steel can be traced back to India in around 300 BC, it was during the Crusades of the Middle Ages that it acquired its legendary status — Damascus steel could bend under pressure without breaking but could also hold its edge, and the civilisations that mastered its production were feared. 1855 AD: Steel production never really began reaching its potential until the creation of the Bessemer Process in 1855. British metallurgist Sir Henry Bessemer realised that molten iron could be combined with oxygen. Along with plastic injection moulding, the Bessemer Process was one of the most important manufacturing developments of the modern era. 1950 AD: The Bessemer Process and other steelmaking processes that had developed alongside it became obsolete in 1950 with the introduction of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) which limits impurities and can even process old scrap metal into steel, lowering wastage and increasing efficiency. These days, BOS accounts for the majority of steelmaking processes in the industrialised world.