Dare to take a stand

A female designer recently told me “to be more masculine.” She immediately apologised for her wording, but the interesting part was that both of us intuitively understood what she meant. Masculine as in straight to the point, pushy, driven, and maybe even a bit inconsiderate. Masculine as in daring to stand up for yourself – and to be heard. Few things are as provocative as gender and the characteristics we associate with it. I often think about this in my work as a journalist; in my choice of subject matter and people I speak to, in my way of being and relating to the world in which I work.

Almost as much a subject of discussion as gender is the question of nationality, what it means and
how it’s interpreted. Especially when in conversation with foreign design journalists. It´s a discussion that can get pretty heated. What is typically Swedish in design? Is it a Swedish designer who collaborates with foreign companies? Or the opposite? With this said we are happy to collaborate with Swedish high end department store NK on their summer exhibition Made in Sweden, putting topics about Swedish design and production in focus.

In this issue we have also travelled to Milan, where the Nordic region is being both seen and heard. We have interviewed investors, foreign producers and designers, whom have all talked about the concept of “new Nordic”. I had breakfast with Italian risk capitalist Renato Preti, who has based his newly started company around “the Scandinavian model”. And I drank Prosecco with Rossana Orlandi and Marco Tabasso, who run the gallery and shop Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan. In their opinion, Nordic design is a safe bet during a recession, since it´s aimed for production. Some products that stood out – not necessarily in form or function but in intention – was Form Us With Love’s Lace Metal lamp for Cappellini, which was the first time a Swedish expert in expanded metal – metal factory Häfla Bruk – worked with a top Italian producer. Another example is Daniel
Enoksson’s and Lucas Hinnerud’s extremely weather-resistant Enamel Table, which is individually enameled at Swedish manufacturer IFÖ’s more than 100-year-old factory in Mörrum, in southern Sweden. Such a collaboration make us realise the importance of preserving production and technology on the home front – a subject that this issue touches upon.

The most talked about product at the Milan Furniture Fair was of the more ethereal kind though – a lamp that lit up for the short moment it takes for a soap bubble to form and burst – by the Swedish design trio Front, who definitely dare to take a stand.

Other news for this issue: after a year as a writer and contributor to Form, I will now join my friend and colleague Daniel Golling as co-editor-in- chief.