Trends from Stockholm Furniture Fair 2018

As furniture specialists, we always make sure we're up to date with the latest product launches and trends in the world of furniture and interiors, which is why Stockholm Furniture Fair is always our first port of call each year. This year’s fair did not disappoint, with plenty of new products, new brands and beautifully styled displays and installations to enjoy and be inspired by. Here we highlight four notable trends and a handful of stand-out products from the event. Get in touch with us to receive a digital copy of our full report.

Traditionally, the Scandinavian style has typically been pale and light; however, this year we saw deeper, bolder hues and strong accent colours. Luca Nichetto presented a beautifully warm colour palette in his ‘Ratatouille’ scheme for the 2018 Design Bar, with a combination of soft neutrals and rich, earthy tones; a trend which we saw throughout the show. Mitab‘s new Campfire system featured a muted, yet bold palette of purples combined with nude tones, Fritz Hansen and Lightyears presented a new range of rich, earthy colours for the Caravaggio Pendent series, and debuting brand Warm Nordic featured a palette of deep red, orange and brown-hued fabrics. We also noticed lots of fresh, bold pastels, as seen in the palettes for Fredericia’s new Trinidad chair series and Fritz Hansen’s reintroduction of Arne Jacobsen‘s Pot Chair.

In line with the increasing trend for softer, more natural interiors, this year’s fair saw a revival in the trend for woven textures and bold, tactile effects. Brands such as Garsnas, Swedese, Carl Hansen and Nor11 showcased elegant wicker designs, while Kvadrat launched a new collection of graphic, highly textured curtains designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. New brand Northern launched Fold, a wool fabric pendant light inspired by Japanese origami.

The taste for mid-century modern furniture is showing no signs of slowing down, with several classic designs and vintage-inspired items relaunched at Stockholm this year. New brand Warm Nordic debuted with a comprehensive collection of Scandinavian design classics, including the Gesture Chair and Orange Lounge Chair, both designed by Danish architect and industrial designer Hans Olsen. Fritz Hansen reintroduced the Pot Lounge Chair, originally designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1959 for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen; and Carl Hansen & Son relaunched Danish designer Børge Mogensen’s Hunting Table, a design from the 1950s.

As design becomes more environmentally driven, brands are beginning to look for ways to reduce their impact on the environment and minimize waste. Awarded the best product accolade at this year’s fair,Offecct‘s Jin Chair is a ‘100 per cent biological chair’, made from flax fiber. Designed by Jin Kuramoto, the body of the chair is defined by shaping thin layers of the flax fibre material on top of each other, forming a strong shell around a core of air, making the surface the structure of the chair. Offecct also presented the Soundwave Ennis Acoustic Panel, modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright’s design for the concrete blocks used in one of his four LA ‘textile houses‘ and made of recycled moulded polyester. Asplund‘s Wedge rug designs also caught our attention for their geometric patterns, inspired by wooden waste materials, and their use of the sustainable Tencel® fibre.