Stockholm Furniture Fair 2020

Each year, Stockholm marks the first stop on the globe’s Design Week calendar, with consultancies, designers and architects descending from all over the world to witness the latest innovations in Scandinavian design, at Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.

In the first week of February each year, The Furniture Practice heads to the Swedish capital to bring you our annual report on the fair’s most notable exhibitions, themes and colour directions as well as our curation of the exhibitors’ best designs. Stockholm 2020 was no exception and we’re excited to announce that this year’s report is available to read in full now.

Get in touch with us to receive a copy of our Stockholm 2020 report, or to arrange a Stockholm presentation for you or your design team: london@thefurniturepractice.com

This year’s Guest of Honour – London based design studio Doshi Levien – overtook the main entrance hall with its legacy-rich installation: a manifestation of the question posed by the design duo during their keynote interview: how do we design furniture that balances longevity with innovation? The designers presented a palatial structure made from plywood, with only the gauze-like curtains — a new collaboration between the designers and Kvadrat — hinting at the more dreamy interiors within.

This question of design for longevity was echoed throughout the fair, with the concepts of sustainability and adaptability being revisited again and again. Norwegian furniture manufacturer, Vestre exemplified this pursuit with its entirely reusable display (an effort that won the brand ‘Best Stand’ Award for 2020), as did Fritz Hansen’s NO2 — a stackable chair made using circular plastic (previously recycled plastic that can be recycled again) made in collaboration with Japanese studio nendo.

Elsewhere in the fair, Fredrik Paulsen’s cabana-inspired Design Bar added a sense of playfulness to the gastronomic offerings with further afield in the city, the Archive exhibition at the Old National Archives’ building explored the relationship between traditional architecture and contemporary design.

In some ways, the line between work and living has blurred – with most work now being done online, the need for defined office spaces has lessened – whilst the interest in self-care and work/life balance has also helped it become more distinctive. This duality was evident in many of the fair’s most notable designs – from Fogia’s Lyra Lounge Chair to Offecct’s Osaka table units – which showed a distinct combination of comfort and functionality, nature and industry.

Notable colour themes this year ranged from splashes of Classic Blue – Pantone’s Colour of the Year 2020 – to tone on tone palettes, featuring layered beige hues and dusty pastels in blue, peach, yellow and mustard tones.