FÄRG & BLANCHE were commissioned by Stockholm Furniture Fair & Light Fair and TMF, The Swedish Federation of Wood and Furniture Industry, to create an installation that is currently on display at the fair until February 7th.
You can watch a ‘behind the scenes’ video – here
The description from FÄRG & BLANCHE
The exhibition is about the work and values in Scandinavian design. Through a number of hand-picked pieces of furniture the story of contemporary Scandinavian design and furniture production is taking centre stage. All the exhibits have their own stories to tell; about the people and processes behind them, the places where they were made, and the philosophy and working methods of the companies that produced them, from crafting by hand to robotized production lines.
The installation – The wooden pavilion housing the exhibitions gives the visitor a sense of stepping inside a large piece of furniture. ”We wanted to make a spectacular structure surrounding the exhibition and embracing the viewer, at the same time as the ongoings of the fair outside is clearly visible,” Fredrik Färg and Emma Marga Blanche explains.
The shape of the structure is inspired by traditional upholstered furniture with capiton patterns, created when you pull in the textile with a button. It is made of 160 wooden bends of moulded birch veneer which has been processed in a numerical controlled cuter for a perfect fit. The wooden bends is then assembled with 114 key parts that connect all bends together. The key parts are upholstered by hand, created in the Färg & Blanche studio and crafted into unique leather squares. ”In a way the structure is a tribute to the Scandinavian furniture industry, using pressed birch but in our own way.”
The exhibition showcase ten pieces of furniture, chosen not so much for their aestetic but more for the ideas and values behind them, how they were produced and developed, and the stories that comes with that. In this way a a handmade chair by a master craftsman sits next to a chair made in a robotized production line. The stories are told via vivid examples, sketches and prototypes, as well as videos and text by Hanna Nova Beatrice.
On the small stage at the back of the exhibition there will be a new guest invited each day to describe what Scansinavian design is to them and pick two piece of furniture to illustrate this. The approached persons that answered the questions is: Li Edelkoort, Jamie Hayon, Industrial Facility, MJÖLK from Toronto and Ilse Crawford.
Design: FÄRG & BLANCHE
Photography by FÄRG & BLANCHE, August Eriksson and Bjorn Colliander