Swedish Design

Swedish designers are noted for producing distinctive and elegant forms; their furniture and household goods have an especially loyal following around the world. Design in Sweden has more than just an aesthetic component, however. Since at least the late nineteenth century, Swedish politicians and social planners have viewed design as a means for advocating and enacting social change and pushing for a more egalitarian social organization. In this book, Keith M. Murphy examines the special relationship between politics and design in Sweden, revealing in particular the cultural meanings this relationship holds for Swedish society. Over the course of fourteen months of research in Stockholm and at other sites, Murphy conducted in-depth interviews with various players involved in the Swedish design industry—designers, design instructors, government officials, artists, and curators—and observed several different design collectives in action. He found that for Swedes design is never socially or politically neutral. Even for common objects like furniture and other household goods, design can be labeled "responsible," "democratic," or "ethical"— descriptors that all neatly resonate with the traditional moral tones of Swedish social democracy. Murphy also considers the example of Ikea and its power to politicize perceptions of the everyday world. More broadly, his book serves as a model for an anthropological approach to the study of design practice, one that accounts for the various ways in which order is purposefully and meaningfully imposed by designers on the domains of human life, and the consequences those impositions have on the social worlds in which they are embedded.

Although Swedish design has exercised an extraordinary influence on modern architecture and interior furnishings internationally since the early twentieth century, the intellectual background from which it emerged is far less wellknown, for some of the crucial, generative writings on the subject by Swedish thinkers of the time have never been widely translated. Modern Swedish Design Theory collects three of these seminal essays for the first time in English. Accompanying these texts in the book are introductory essays and a postscript by the renowned architectural historian Kenneth Frampton.

Swedish Design: A History provides a fascinating and comprehensive introduction to the development of design in Sweden from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twenty-first. Leading design historian Lasse Brunnström traces the move from artisanal crafts production to the mass production and consumption of designed objects, a process by which the role and profile of the designer became increasingly important. His survey, richly illustrated with images of the designed objects discussed, takes in forms of design traditionally associated with Sweden, such as household objects and textiles, while also considering some less-written about genres such as industrial and graphic design. Brunnström questions many established ideas about design in Sweden, notably its aesthetics and its relationship to Sweden's national and political culture. He argues that the history of design in Sweden has been far more complex and less straightforwardly 'blond' than hitherto understood.

Identified as "the first designer of what would become known as Swedish Modern" by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Karin Bergoo Larsson (1859-1928) was a mother of eight and wife to Sweden's beloved painter, Carl Larsson. Herself a well-regarded artist, she gave up painting when she married, at the request of her husband. Taking up needles and cloth, she then turned a somewhat ugly cottage--Lilla Hyttnas in the tiny village of Sundborn, Sweden--into a designer showcase. Inspired by the Swedish countryside, she filled the home with handcrafted wall hangings, bed coverings, tablecloths, pillow covers and even furniture of her own design, while greatly influencing her husband's work by encouraging him to move away from dark oils to more illuminating and light-filled watercolors. His paintings of their home made her interior designs famous, and her influence continues to inform the concepts of retail giant IKEA.

"For the first time since the 1950s, design in Sweden has come under an international spotlight. Almost everything aorund us has been designed and,a s such, design provokes a mirror of contemporary culture, and a vehicle of self expression. In this book the author presents a survey of over 30 contemporary Swedish designers, from glass and textile designers to ceramic artists and furniture makers, providing a fascinating insight into current Scandinavian design philosophies." - cover.

Swedish Interiors is the first book to share the history, progression, and key elements of Swedish style and how to use it in many different styles of homes. From the white and blue-hued images of the familiar Gustavian style to the gold accents and luxurious patterns found in the Swedish Baroque, Rococo, and Biedermeier periods, the secret to Swedish design is in having the confidence to mix old and new while maintaining a clean and simple aesthetic. Swedish Interiors emphasizes light, comfort and elegance. The authors operate Eleish Van Breems Antiques, a renowned Swedish antiques and decorating resource. Featured on Martha Stewart Living, and in Country Living, House Beautiful, Travel & Leisure, the New York Times, Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens, Victoria, and Yankee.

*The basis for the wonderfully funny and moving TV series developed by Amy Poehler and Scout Productions* A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life. In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming. Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.

This book represents the first anthropological ethnography of Ikea consumption and goes to the heart of understanding the unique and at times frantic popularity of this one iconic transnational store. Based on a year of participant observation in Stockholm’s Kungens Kurva store – the largest in the world - this book places the retailer squarely within the realm of the home-building efforts of individuals in Stockholm and to a lesser degree in Dublin. Ikea, the world’s largest retailer and one of its most interesting, is the focus of intense popular fascination internationally, yet is rarely subject to in-depth anthropological inquiry. In Unpacking Ikea, Garvey explores why Ikea is never ‘just a store’ for its customers, and questions why it is described in terms of a cultural package, as everyday and classless. Using in-depth interviews with householders over several years, this ethnographic study follows the furniture from the Ikea store outwards to probe what people actually take home with them.