For such a small country, Sweden has a huge impact on the way we live. Sure, just about everyone owns something from IKEA, but there’s more to Swedish design than the blue-and-yellow behemoth: Sweden has a tradition of intelligent, understated silhouettes and exuberant graphic prints in its housewares that continues today with such companies as Asplund, Design House Stockholm, MOD: Modern Objects and Design, and Orrefors glassware. A host of young architects are storming the scene, such as Thomas Erikkson, also famous for his cross-shaped medicine cabinet, and Oscar Hafvenstein, whose firm is brilliantly named Boys Don’t Cry. The art scene, too, is worth checking out. One place to do so: Andyland.se, a new website founded by Alexandra Giertz and Ulrika Grönérus last October that showcases the work of emerging Swedish artists. “Swedes travel a lot and are influenced by different cultures and trends; the education system is generous,” says Giertz. “We are veryy design-conscious.”
source: NYLON Mag, July 2007
