Stockholm Furniture Fair 2023

The Show

Unsurprisingly, most of the companies showing were from the Nordic region— 360 out of 500—with only a smattering from each of 34 other countries, including Italy, Spain, Belgium and Eastern Europe. After a relatively slow start on the opening day, the crowds, mainly from Scandinavia, picked up considerably for the rest of the week, and the queues for cloakrooms and the many eateries were very long.

In keeping with the Scandinavian aesthetic, the exhibition stands and their displays were decidedly unfussy and devoid of gratuitous embellishment, and quality of presentation and the perfect choice of lighting and colors made everything easy on the eye. There were a few stands where product finishes were chosen to shock and attract attention, but they were in the minority, and the visitor was left with a sense of having absorbed many examples of consistent, high quality, original design, outstanding manufacturing skills, and the use of the very best of natural materials.

The entrance to the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

 The Trends

As has come to be expected from this exhibition, the originality of products and presentation was of a very high standard and there was plenty to excite the visual senses. Bright colors and unusually conformed shapes were everywhere, and there was a great sense of fun about many of the products on display.

In line with today’s international office and contract furniture industry, claims of sustainability, zero carbon, recycled materials, and recyclable products were a dominant theme and, for many companies, those characteristics were placed ahead of appearance and function, leading to some unusual looking products.

This show has always blurred the lines between office and home furniture, but this year, spurred on no doubt by the post-pandemic acceleration of home and hybrid working, it was often really difficult to determine by appearance whether an exhibitor or a product was targeting the residential or commercial market. As a result, there was little in the way of furniture which was destined only for the traditional office environment and much more emphasis on designs which would fit equally happily in a hotel lobby, a modern home or an office seeking to create a homely environment.

The show demonstrated perfectly how furniture and furnishings companies in this part of the world invariably fall into one of two categories. They are either one of a very large number of family-owned and managed, sometimes third or fourth generation, design- and craft-led  small companies. These companies typically use very high quality materials and often traditional skills and have not moved far, if at all, from the small town or village where they started life, and where the founding family still live.

In the alternative, they are one of the very small number of much larger Nordic companies such as Kinnarps, Martela, or  EFG, run by professional managers, that have become internationally powerful and recognized.

The Companies

Normada, from the town in Sweden of the same name, have taken sustainability to a new level using specially selected cellulose fibers from sustainably managed forests and 3D printing technology to create The Nest, open source furniture by business founder and lead designer, Johanna Westerberg.

The Nest from Swedish company Normada.

Kinnarps, originally from the town of Kinnarp in southern Sweden, is now one of the largest office furniture groups in Europe, having made several acquisitions over the years, including Drabert and Materia.  Their presentation at the show was more about the character of work, in this instance, mobility, than about the specific products.

A range of mobile furniture from Kinnarp.

One of the very few UK companies exhibiting was Bisley from South Wales which over the past few years has transitioned from its concentration on steel storage to more general ranges of office furniture.

UK-based company Bisley is known for storage solutions.

The Valencia-based design upholstery and table specialists, Andreu World, which has been growing rapidly internationally, had a large, busy stand.

The busy Andreu World stand at the fair.

One of Sweden’s leading upholstery companies which invariably has imaginative upholstery products, Blå Station, had developed their modular sectional design to include these well-designed, individual study enclosures. Blå Station is represented in North America by Scandinavian Spaces.

A modular piece from Blå Station.

Mizetto, a small, owner-managed business from Kalmar in Småland, Sweden, founded and run by Malin and Richard Muskala, works closely with Addi, a three-person local design firm including on this space dividing storage and seating system, Cottage.

Cottage by Mizetto is a storage and seating system.

Esbjörn Jagebro from Naava from the Finnish capital, Helsinki, enthusiastically demonstrated the Green Wall system for improving air quality. Plants are in individual containers filled with loose pebbles, rather than soil, allowing the plants’ roots to clean the atmosphere efficiently.

A green wall from Navaa helps to improve air quality.

Humanscale’s stand promoted their sustainability credentials with task chairs manufactured from re-engineered plastic fishing nets.

Humanscale’s task chairs are ergonomic and sustainable.

Another design-led upholstery company, Jess, from Oss in the Netherlands showed a range of chairs and sofas.

Jess showed a range of plush sofas and chairs

Karl Andersson & Söner from Huskvarna in Sweden, whose business dates back to 1898, presented ranges of beautifully handmade furniture, including their Meander solid wood benches – designer Hannes Äström and Ondulé, and enclosures designed by Anton Björsing.

A Meander bench, handcrafted of solid wood.

Ukraine was represented by +Kouple from Kyiv, a seven-year-old product design company founded by husband-and-wife team, Dan and Kateryna Vakhrameyev.

A stylish seating option from +Kouple.

La Cividina based in Udine in Italy showed their Osaka seating system from French designer Pierre Paulin.

Osaka is a curvy seating system from French designer Pierre Paulin.

One of the busiest and most colorful stands at the show was that of Lammhults Möbel, from the Swedish town of Lammhult.

Lammhults Möbel’s stand was one of the busiest—and most colorful.

Playoffice from Stockholm embraced whimsy, showing a pool table, an outdoor ping pong table and this popular swing.  This attention-grabbing shelving system designed by Nisse Strinning came from String Furniture, based in Limhamn, Sweden.

A swing from Playoffice was popular with visitors.
String Furniture from Sweden showed a bold green shelving system.