As an editor, each time I attend a design fair, I’m making snap judgements in my head: Does this designer’s collection stand together as a whole? Is there a compelling narrative behind it? Does it use materials in a profound or creative way? Is it formally inventive? Is it pretty? If I had another suitcase, would I want to take a piece home with me? But before last week, I had never in my life had to choose my number one, absolute, hands-down favorite. And yet, at the Stockholm Furniture Fair‘s Greenhouse exhibition of emerging design, I did just that: For Sight Unseen’s inaugural Best in Show award, I chose the Swedish duo Bursell/Svedborg — whose wonderful series of mixed-material pedestals we’ll be diving into more in-depth next week — from a pool of 30 international design studios, who had been juried into the fair by a committee of six Stockholm-based designers. My decision was hard. I loved the ball-bearing joinery of Studio Shueiyuan’s Railway collection, and the tactility of Taylor Mckenzie-Veal’s Soft Lamps. I loved Ne Collective’s chair, made from the traditionally maligned sitka spruce, and Erco Lai’s aluminum room divider, whose slats were studded with local Swedish rocks. So it’s with great pleasure that I highlight all of my favorites from the week here today. Enjoy and come back next week for a closer look at our Best in Show pick!

Studio McKenzie-Veal

The Grand Rapids, Michigan–based designer Taylor McKenzie-Veal was one of four American studios represented at Greenhouse. Inspired simply by the desire to work with a new material, McKenzie-Veal presented a series of cord-wrapped Soft Lamps with details like contrast stitching to delineate where the user  taps to turn the light off or on.

Bursell/Svedborg

The winners of Sight Unseen’s Best in Show award, Adrian Bursell and Siri Svedborg will be the subject of their very own Sight Unseen story next week, devoted to the Burn & Turn collection of sleek, mixed-material pedestal/side tables.

Studio Shueiyuan

Absolutely loved the #tinyballs-heavy Railing Collection by Studio Shueiyuan, inspired by the public railing system in Taiwan, with its distinctive spherical joints.

Hanna Dís Whitehead

From her rural studio in Iceland, Hanna Dís Whitehead gathers straw and sheep’s wool from neighboring farms, cleaning and dyeing them to become felted baskets or marquetry-heavy vases. A longtime Sight Unseen favorite, it was fun to see small versions of Whitehead’s material experiments on display; here’s hoping she uses that vibrant marquetry technique — and smiley-face motif — on larger pieces in the future!

Sophie Jungkvist

Sophie Jungkvist‘s work is deceptive. At first glance, it looks like a series of beautifully woven but ultimately static textiles. Pull on the lower bar, however, and the pattern changes, thanks to a weave structure that relies on floats to connect two or more layers without fixing them into position. The result is five textiles that can change transparency, pattern, or color, adjusting to the user’s moods or the shifting light of the day.

Studio Christoph Hauf

A former protegé of both Leon Ransmeier in New York and New Tendency in Berlin, the Stuttgart-based Christoph Hauf showed four pared down designs: a dining or conference table whose leg joints offer a new take on Japanese woodworking; a side or coffee table whose central beam pokes through, forming a handle for easy maneuverability; a light; and a hanging, tension-based clothing rack, perfect for apartment-dwellers.

Malva Office

We actually featured José Cortes’s Valencia, Spain–based studio Malva Office when he showed at last year’s Edit Napoli; since then, he’s added excellent, ladder-backed, Mackintosh-esque seating as well as upholstered benches to his collection.

Erco Lai

The show-stopper at Erco Lai’s booth was the aforementioned room divider, but his waterfall étagère, cute Gingko chair, and 3D sand-printed Magma light were equally lovely.

MoCollection

The combination of butter yellow and CNC-ed walnut made Max Orenstein’s Mo Collection booth a standout.

Ia Kutateladze

The Berlin-based designer built her entire Abstract Formations collection around the repetition of one or two elemental ceramic shapes.

Ne Collective

The Norwegian duo of Oskar Form and Birk Manum Bjerkan highlighted the sitka spruce, a typically maligned tree variety that only becomes useful as a building material after a few hundred years of growth.

Yann Design Studio

The Chinese designer initially began making his Combo Bench and Obsidian Chair from fiberglass, but soon switched to the safer and more environmentally friends degreased cotton gauze resin, which has the added benefit of being easily dyeable.

Ung Svensk Form

Ung Svensk Form is an annual, juried touring group exhibition of up-and-coming designers. Here are a few of our favorites from this year!

Kirsten Vikingstad Hermansson

Malin Norberg

Karl Ekdahl

Charlotte Samuelsson and Matilda Lindstam Nilsson 

Anna Herrmann

Josefin Bravo