5 highlights from Stockholm Design Week

As the long-awaited Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture Fair draws to a close for another year, Caro reflects on the inspiring range of creative and eco-conscious craftsmanship brought together by designers, architects, and innovators from around the world.

This year the team enjoyed supporting our clients exhibiting at #SDW23, including Bisley who made their debut appearance at the Furniture Fair with a strong presentation on the theme ‘Homing the Office’, as well as our long-standing client Carl Hansen & Son who explored a range of new designs in their Stockholm flagship store.

The week-long event demonstrated a clear focus on sustainability, circularity, and agile working solutions – especially advances in acoustics and sound-proofing.

Here are team Caro’s 5 highlights from the week:

1. Acoustics

Definitely a hot topic right now with brands like SilentLab and Silen who are transforming office pods from room dividers and breakout units into broadcast-quality and fully soundproofed environments, offering the potential for high quality virtual meetings and, most importantly, podcasting.

Soundproof pods were also displayed as a burgeoning solution to acoustic management and hybrid working privacy. Other approaches included a felted hanging panel over at Bisley Furniture’s stand. (We can’t help feeling that Caro Towers would benefit from an acoustic magic wand if anyone would like to take up the challenge?!)

2. Pleats

Pleats, literally everywhere! Stockholm-based industrial design duo FOLKFORM showcased their pleating techniques in the ‘Pleated for Frank’ exhibition at Svenskt Tenn, using Josef Frank’s archival patterns and Svenskt Tenn’s linen fabrics for a series of colourful, sculptural pleated lamp shades.

3. Communicating sustainability

Now or Never, organised by Swedish furniture designer and sustainability strategist Emma Olbers with EY Doberman future manifestation lab SALLY, created the 1kg CO2e exhibition showcasing the materials commonly used in architecture and furniture design, and the impact they have on our climate. The innovative installation powerfully communicates the level of impact our choices make.

‘Each material is represented in one kilo of emissions, CO2e, which makes it very easy to see the differences and how much material you actually get for one kilo of CO2’ says Olbers. ‘A lot has to happen in the coming years – we can solve it together.’

4. Organic materials

CARL HANSEN & SØN presented their new products in their flagship store, including the AH Outdoor Series, designed by Danish architect Alfred Homann, the Sideways footstool by Rikke Frost and the Nesting Tables by Hans J. Wegner. All were created using natural materials and design-conscious craftsmanship.

5. Colour

The OFFECCT stand, created by Gwenaëlle Girard and Baptiste Pilato from EN BANDE ORGANISÉE, displayed a range of interior architecture and furniture complete with a burst of colour.

‘Colour is a great tool for creating and structuring spaces. As interior designers, we appreciate furniture and its proportions in a space in resonance with other objects and volumes that surround it…Colour allows us to see the space, and the furniture, as a whole.’