More North

Swedish company and one of our partners Kallemo recently presented a new product by Matti Klenell. The "Spectra" Easy chair was introduced earlier this year and have gotten some world wide recognition in Dwell and Wallpaper.

And what's not to like about this comfy lounge chair? With its 10 pillows in two layers that creates the seat in this chair. The pillows has different texture, density and size and can be arranged to create desires seating position.

Earlier this year Arvinius publishing released a book about Swedish Design and Architect master Thomas Sandell.

Sandell is one of Sweden’s internationally most widely noticed architects and designer, with the ability to take on projects across the chart and come up with beautiful and smart results. Some under his own name, others under his firm SandellSandberg that he formed with Ulf Sandberg & Joakim Uebel.

We at More North are familiar with Thomas greatness through the beautiful pieces he designed for Asplund. The Bermuda desk and table series, the gorgeous rugs and storage units to name a few.

Most people might have seen some of his work for IKEA as well as some pretty breathtaking architectural ideas. He's the designer who almost always agrees to a project.

Thomas Sandell relates Danish architect Bjarge Ingels’s explanation for this tendency to spontaneously say ‘yes’ when invited to take on a new assignment. Simple: – “Yes is more!”

Much like the French BNP Paribas HQ major make over last year by Ausset of Zoevox, Swedish bank "Skandiabanken" gave their biggest Stockholm branch a face lift.

BVD Design & Branding created a multifunctional space where natural material blends with new interactive technology and smart design solutions. It's a dynamic space with a layout more common in the retail area and rarely seen in the financial sector.

The branch is multifunctional and set up to be used for different types of meetings. Upstairs there's a big room for workshops and creative meetings,the light and airy environment can easily be transferred to a lecture hall. We love the attention to everyone's needs, with the "mini" meeting room, for kids whose parents are taken care of by the banks advisers.

Back in the day when banks were made out of expensive marble and oak and where the bank clerks where behind thick glass windows seems dated. In today's world of consumer power and the shaky financial climate banks must be open and accessible.

The inspiration for the concept was a green house, a place where plants grow and are nurtured.

We used to carry Swedish designer Pia Wallén's great felt pieces in our TriBeCa showroom. She is world renowned for her smart innovative design solutions and work in felt.

Pia recently released three new prints under the group name "Homage". Three chain patterns, Coco, Karl and Paco, a homage to the three designers who created the style history. The patterns were awarded "textile of the year" by ELLE Magazine.

On the inspiration the artist says:

"The chain has played a role in strengthen their collections to enhance women’s empowerment and eccentric forms. The chain also symbolizes people’s strong ties to each other. This total has been an inspiration in my creative work, says Pia Wallén."

This year is the iconic designers 75year anniversary of the stool 60. To celebrate this Artek have released the stool 60 in classic Bauhaus primary colors, red, blue and yellow. Buy the stool and other Artek products from us.

Are you on of those people who dread having to go to the laundromat every week and get bored just by thinking of it.

In Oslo, Norway they've managed to make laundry day relaxing. At the "Laundromat Cafe" you can do your laundry while enjoying a meal, free wireless or read any of the 4000 books they have on site. The atmosphere is cozy and very retro and well worth a visit even though it's not laundry day.

The New York summer have been hot so far, don't we all wish we could just live on a boat with a nice breeze from the water.

In Denmark, with views of Copenhagen's waterfront and the Royal Danish Playhouse, Architect Nils Jeppe Hansen re-did a old ferry that used to go from Jutland and Fyn in Denmark. Hansen kept the original look and integrity of the Ferry with the raw riveted steel contrasting the beautiful skylight, colored glass panels and furniture from Arne Jacobsen and Poul Kjaerholm to name a few.

Arna Jacobsen Ant chairs in the dining room

The Pink Swan Project is a series of Swan chairs designed by 18 internationally-known creatives that will be auctioned off to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). The chairs were generously donated by Fritz Hansen and the auction will be through charitybuzz during October, which is the Breast Cancer awareness month.

Windsor Smith

Kelly Hoppen

If you haven't yet seen it, The Bard Graduate Center is currently showing  a retrospective on Knoll textiles, the exhibition will go down July 31st,2011. It's the first comprehensive exhibition of the leading producer of modern textiles.

The exhibitions is divided into four major areas.

The first part considers the formation and shaping of the brand over time. The importance of the leadership and the design directors who took huge risks in order to push boundaries to enhance and promote creativity and embracing new ideas and resources. This as we know ultimately lead them to success in the design industry. This section also includes the importance of Knoll's promotion and marketing of textiles.

Handwoven H940

The second part focuses on the innovations in materials and methods of products between 1945-1965. How Florence Knoll introduced a line with a more modern style, that used color and texture as a primary design elements. It also brings up the guts it took to hire young, untried designers to develop these new exciting patterns.

Pebble weaving on 657W rocking chair

The third part brings up how the textile division thrived in the conjunction with the success of the Knoll planning unit from the 1940s to 1960s. It was during this time that Knoll obtained many of the most important corporate commissions of the 1950s, the textile department received large orders as well.

Small Bertoia Diamon chair in Prestini

The fourth and final part brings up what happened with the division after Florence Knoll's retirement in 1965. The design directions shifted towards Europe and more international recognition during the 1970s and 1980s. Several new designers where tied to the division. The pioneering use of materials and continued to present day. with the introduction of Knoll Luxe, the new line with a more fashion forward edge.

Auden by Laura and Kate Mulleavy of fashion brand Rodarte for Knoll Luxe

NY Times recently posted an article about Cooper-Hewitt teaming up with Artek as part of Target's design education program. Families were invited to re-design and put their own spin on the classic and timeless chair 69 originally designed by Alvar Aalto.

The price their very own  vintage samples of chair 69. A couple of years ago the Fininsh company started a program to buy back used Artek furniture under the project name "2nd cycle". And with them teaming up with Martela, Artek now have the possibility to refurbish used pieces and sell affordably.

Executive VP of Artek Simone Vingerhoets-Ziesmann is not only one of the nicest people you'll meet, she also gets the importance of a program like this and the need to educate the society that even if a piece is 50 years old it still have a lot of life to it.

And truthfully that's what makes these timeless classics different from these mass produced copies, the length of life and the ability to be passed to generations to come.

One of the brands we carry, is Swedish furniture brand, Swedese.

A classic Swedish furniture brand with a strong anchor in both private and commercial places. The companies ideals are the same today as they have been for the past sixty years, which is to create beautiful furniture for the future. Built on the foundations of Scandinavian modern traditions, designed by forward-looking designers, who share the timeless ideals of architecture.

which build on the foundations of Scandinavian modern traditions, designed by forward-looking designers who share in the timeless ideals of architecture.

So far 2011 have been great for the company, with a strong appearance at both Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan and the Stockholm furniture fair. Prices have been won; Thomas Bernstrand received the Form+1 award for his "Ivy" shelving unit

Prestigious Swedish Magazine, Skona Hem, awarded Staffan Holm with the "Furniture of the year" award for his stool "Spin".

What can you do with 250 pieces of plywood and a budget of 500 euro?

A group of 15 students from Gothenburg's Röhsska ( Swedish Design Museum) designed and built a pop-up bar for the  institution.

In just three hours, the students assembled the structure in site, but the con conceptual planning of this project took over four weeks.

The students used 250 pieces of 12mm plywood that was cut using a custom three-axis router by C6D Snickeri. The installation was created using a parametric design model. They created a digital plan and a series of 1:5 scale models were printed using a laser cutter. The plywood pieces fit together like a puzzle, with grooved and wedges that fixed slabs in place, this made it quick to put together and take apart.

The kind souls who are already subscribing to our quarterly newsletter already know that we highlighted our very first non- Scandinavian furniture maker not that long ago.

We made the decision to team up with * HB * Collaborative in Brooklyn for a couple of reasons. The guys running it are really talented and boundary pushing in terms of design ideas and ways to execute. But more importantly, we think that their design aesthetic is reading so well with the Scandinavian modern pieces we offer our clients. Some colorful seven chairs by Arne Jacobsen would look fantastic with a heavier table made out of reclaimed wood and steel.

Here's the best part, all material is sourced locally and their build studio is next doors to our new office. So we can oversee the production from start to finish.

We kinda like the idea of a company that is young, but using old material and the men behind it goes so my further with their ideas than "just" tables and stools. They recently did an installation at the Alexander Wang store in New York city that received a lot of praise for its beauty. They have also worked on a lot of commercial projects and are masters of coming up with clever storage unit solutions. The question remains; is there anything these guys can't do?

The cage at Alexander Wang

The Magnetic shelves will look as good in a private residence as they do at Occulter

Storage and shelving unit at Gargyle's shop downtown

Conference table with a slide for computer cables and such. *HB* also make that great floating light fixture; wood, steel and LED at it's best

Desk with a rolling side unit

Communal table for downtown eatery An Choi.

We'd like to send a delayed congratulations to one of our favorite vendors, Artek for winning the 2011 ICFF's Editor Award for best furniture.

Each year, the ICFF gather the industry's top editors and invites them to scout the floor of the Javits Center. This year, Artek won the award for "furniture", it's not the first award for this strong Finnish company. In 2006 they won the "seating" category.

The ICFF Editors Awards Committee: Arlene Hirst, Anniina Koivu of Abitare, Elizabeth Pagliacolo of Azure, Sam Grawe of Dwell, Annie Block of Interior Design, Nadia Lionello of Interni, Bénédicte Duhalde of Intramuros, Paul J. Makovsky of Metropolis

Sixty years ago Danish designer Finn Juhl designed the interior of the trusteeship council chamber at the UN. The space is currently undergoing major restoration and renovations. In December last year the the Danish Arts Foundation Committee for Crafts and Design invited five designers to participate in a furniture competition to "reinvent Danish classics". The task was to design a new table and chairs for the chamber. A new batch of Finn Juhls chair (FJ51) will also be produced for the council chamber. Below you see some of the participating designers as well as the winners.

Christian Flindt designed a meeting table that could quickly be moved out of the way.

Flindt also designed a chair with a clear nod to Hans Wegner

Soren Ulrik Petersen was also inspired by Wegner with these chairs and conference table.

Mia Gammelgard proposed these task chairs, with its slim profile looks like they're inspired by the Arne Jacobsen Oxford chair

But the winner was Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard. Here's the rendering of their meeting table and chair designs. It looks like the duo was inspired by Arne Jacobsens swan chair. The chair feels refreshingly timeless.

At More North we very much appreciate a good collaboration between brands. So we are very happy about the upcoming partnership between Swedish glass company Orrefors and fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld designed an entire series of glasses for different occasions. The Lagerfeld "aesthetic" is very much applied to these items. Elegant timeless shapes in black, white or clear glass, Lagerfeld says it's a dramatic collection without any frills. The designer wants us to view the white wine glass like a freestanding  geometrical cloud.

Karl Lagerfeld who's a big fan of the brand, love the fact that Orrefors still to this day is hand blowing the glasses,the designer goes one to say "it's not like cheap perfume bottles". Lagerfeld also went ahead and created "coaster" plates for each glass. Much like the coffee cup has a saucer, Lagerfeld points out that if a glass has ice in it, and you put it on a table, it will leave water marks, so a saucer for each glass is a natural step. And if not used for that, something to put olives or ash your cigarettes on.

The KL for Orrefors collection will hit retailers in September.

Danish company Fritz Hansen always comes out with beautiful furniture design. The latest piece is by Spanish designer Jaime Hayon and his "Favn" sofa. Favn that means embrace in Danish was based on the form of a shell and is intended to look equally beautiful from all angles. Shapes based on shell's is nothing new to Fritz Hansen who represents many of Arne Jacobsens designs. Hayon says that his design picks up from a long tradition of Jacobsen's work and his work with the Egg chair that was also based on a shell design.

The sofa is available in different versions and incorporates a mix of three fabrics: one for the shell, one for the seat and back cushion and the third for small decorative pillows. The small logo and signature plate in satin brushed aluminum is hand sewn onto the sofa.