30 Projects We Loved at the 2024 Stockholm Furniture Fair

Perhaps no design fair makes me philosophize about the future of trade shows more than Stockholm. A small fair that has become even more compact over the past few years, as Danish brands have increasingly shifted their calendar to coincide with Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design, Stockholm tends to particularly shine in two areas that make a fair worth having in the first place: its curation — not only in booths but also in talks that one might actually care to attend — and the idea that sustainability ought to be baked in at every turn, or else what’s the point of making new things?

Case in point: Typically at a trade show, the further you walk towards the back of the hall, the more dismal the offerings become. But at this year’s Stockholm fair, nearly every booth proved worth stopping at, especially those in the back, where I found the Interesting Times Gang, showing lamps made from crushed oyster shells and a tabletop fabricated from melted ocean plastic; Niko June, showing ceramic cakes, rigorous Nick Ross–designed furniture, and slumpy upcycled vases; and delicate lights designed by the architect Andreas Martin-Löf. (Not to mention an HONESTLY AMAZING toilet that will probably never see the light of day in America.) Because there were fewer booths than at a typical European design fair, I could actually stop and talk at length with the designers and brands I was most interested in. The fair also brought under its umbrella some of the best things that could once be found elsewhere around town, including two separate exhibitions by the Stockholm design hub Arranging Things and last year’s breakout experimental design showcase, Alvsjo Gard.

As for sustainability? Products were often made from interesting byproducts and offcuts, and booths were often assembled using recyclable materials, with an eye towards reusing them again in the future. At Greenhouse, the emerging design showcase we’ll be highlighting tomorrow, designer Matti Klenell created a display system for the annual Ung Svensk Form exhibition using simple, splatter-painted pine; when it’s taken out of storage next year, it’s meant to acquire a new color of paint splatters, both to give the system a refresh and to delineate its age, like growth rings on a tree. At least two companies at the fair — Friends & Founders and Mitab — were highlighting programs to take back disused furniture and make it new again, while Minus Furniture joined forces with OMHU to launch a furniture rental program. And guests of honor Formafantasma created a reading room, draped in pink curtains by Maharam and outfitted with wild birch Artek furniture, that allowed visitors to dig more deeply into the studio’s research process on forest ecosystems; the books were set to be donated and the chairs resold at a local gallery after the fair.

Stockholm can sometimes feel too small for its own good, but it certainly felt better to not wonder if I’d somehow missed 10,000 other exhibitions — and to not spent the week fretting about waste, as I often have at other fairs. And it felt great to recognize one of the emerging designers at Greenhouse with Sight Unseen’s first-ever Best in Show award — something we’ll also be revealing in the coming days. For now, enjoy some of the truly wonderful things I unearthed in my short — but worthwhile — time in Stockholm last week.

Top photo: Johanson, styled by Tekla Evelina Severin

Formafantasma Reading Room

Johanson

The Thread by Färg & Blanche

Plus chair by Alexander Lervik

Ava sofa by Böttcher & Kayser

Champ stool by Böttcher & Kayser

Lindy tables by Färg & Blanche

Lindy tables by Färg & Blanche and Opus chairs by Böttcher & Kayser

Arranging Things

Alfred Sahlén, Odd Åsberg, Astrid Öhman, Verk, Julia Jutterström, Lisa Reiser, Silje Lindrup, Didi NG Wing Yin, Public Studio, My Zachrisson, Kvadrat, Vaarnii