An Auction of Work By Emerging Talents is the Best Thing at Stockholm Design Week

For Örnsbergsauktionen’s sixth anniversary, the Swedish exhibition, produced annually by Fredrik Paulsen, Kristoffer Sundin, and Simon Klenell, is moving into swankier digs and partnering with Artek. But though the location is new, the event is still one of the best things about Stockholm Design Week, where the variety of experimental objects on view is a direct result of the designers’ extreme specializations and visions — no mass production necessary. Many of the works are similar to past iterations of the auction — provocative quilt work from Anna Nordström, stepped-form furnishings from Lotta Lampa — but this year also sees the inclusion of an American design studio for only the second first time with Chen Chen & Kai Williams’s stone and glass Shard Planter.

As usual, scrolling through the catalog is a treat in itself, with new work by perennial SU faves like Fredrik Paulsen (be still my heart, glass and steel chair with rose-colored sheepskin) and Nick Ross. New introductions this year include Haidar Mahdi, whose transformations of classical items (a minty urnlike vessel and a Fabergé egg–turned–pineapple) are pastel wonders, as well as Klara Granstrand, a Beckmans alum whose lighting fixture of sorts — made with wood, stone and wires — works together in a stretched balancing act. We don’t know how we’d pick which item to bid on, but check out our favorites below and the rest of the catalog here. And if you’re in Stockholm, the auction takes place on February 10.

PHOTOS BY VIKTOR SJÖDIN

Top: Glass + Steel Chair (2017) by Fredrik Paulsen