The credo of the Swedish design community is “Vackrare Vardagsvara” which means “More Beautiful Everyday Objects”.
But, what are the keys that have inspired Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden in their common aesthetic culture?
1/ A social ideal: make the contemporary design affordable for everyone. This leads designers to create accessible, practical and yet beautiful furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, metal ware. IKEA and H&M, Swedish companies founded in 1947, have the same ideal.
2/ Inspiration from the natural world. Eileene Harrison Beer noted that in Scandinavia “… nature’s ever-changing beauty is the best and most constant source of lasting pleasure in form and color”. This inspires the designers’ motifs.
3/ Interior simplicity produces a greater sense of light. In the ancient days, those countries were geographically isolated and the range of raw materials was limited, so the culture was to waste as less as possible.
4/ Warm, cheerful and cosy homes: surely one longs for during dark, long and cold winters.
5/ Eclecticism mixing different styles as well as old and new.
Dear Future Shapers, which of those keys would you enjoy transposing into your own business?
Nice to read : Scandinavian design –Taschen Editions