Piece by piece

Over time our consumption patterns have changed and production has moved to low-wage countries. Behind all the products in the marketplace hides a chain of production into which we seldom get a glimpse.

The installation ”I don’t chair” invites you to a conversation about social sustainability.

Film by Alva Nylander.

CONTACT
tapper.be@gmail.com
+46 76 203 20 61
instagram.com/tapper.bella

THANKS TO
Kalle Palmgren at KAPA produktion, John Funkquist, Jonatan Nilsson and Måns Salomonsen.

Don’t think I did this whimsically. As you know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Redesigning your chair has been my way of trying to get to know it, of exploring sensible form in an emotionally directed manner. It’s also a way to make good use of the resources in the existing chair’s solid birch, a construction that remains sturdy after years of use, and of course a beautiful design.

Respect for your design has actually been my greatest enemy during the process – I hardly dared to take apart the digital chair I had designed on the computer. When I tore it to pieces in the workshop, I felt like a criminal. It takes longer to take a chair apart than to put one together. It was a strange feeling when I loosened the first mortise-and-tenon joint – it had been hidden since the chair was first put together some time in the middle of the twentieth century. I think of all the time that has passed since then, since you designed it for the orchestra podium of the Helsingborg Concert Hall in 1932.

Sincerely,
Frida Fröderberg

CONTACT
froderbergfrida@gmail.com
+46 73 060 37 42
instagram.com/fridafroderberg

THANKS TO
John Funkqvist, furniture maker; William Öhman, furniture conservator.

That magical light, the reflections, the space and the infinite. The wonder over the magic of sacred spaces and castles, their decoration and ornamentation, the asymmetry hidden in symmetry. I think about living objects from a bygone era that have left behind so much life. What happened to the wealth of details produced in the Gothic and Baroque Eras? The hand craftsmanship that gives an object soul. Today we live in a design world where most things are simplified and the production of things has been simplified so much that products and design are dying – often because of a digitised world and 3D programs that have led to a simplified design idiom.

My project is based on the hand’s thought, the love of materials and a strong faith in making and experimentation in the design process. By making a deep dive into the knowledge of chandeliers, I have examined their form, components, significance and development from a historical perspective, along with their tradition and how they have changed over time and in different contexts. I have searched for a form for my design through honest collaboration among idea, material attributes and execution. It starts with proportions from my own body, with roots in the glass-armed chandeliers of the seventeenth century and the Kungsholm models of the eighteenth.

For me it’s about sparking the imagination and translating what a material claims to be. It’s a sensitive balance between expectations and the unexpected. The chandelier is therefore formed with a hand-cast technique using smelting furnaces I made myself using durable materials – recycled aluminium and glass.

CONTACT
info@jessicawesterberg.com
+45 70 832 61 26
instagram.com/jessicawesterberg

THANKS TO
Erika Kristofersson Bredberg - Glasbolaget i Bro, Glasteknik i Emmaboda AB, Svenskt Aluminium.

I borrowed a book about Norwegian stave churches, and these medieval timber structures really put a spell on me. I was caught up in the rows of rising pillars and swept away in the curving arcades. The forms surged through my thoughts for months until finally they found their only exit: to be built.

Inspired by the medieval builders, I set off into the woods with an axe and splitting wedges. I came upon an old oak that must have been lying there for ages. It was half rotten and covered in moss, but guided by the cracks in the trunk I could split it open to find the deep brown heartwood left unharmed.

With the stave churches still on my mind the work continued back in the woodshop, and the oak I had gathered slowly turned into table and chair. There is no idea behind the work. Like dancing to music, it is only about following the world and acting on the impulse to take part in it.

CONTACT
joakimzickert@gmail.com
+47 79 335 91 97
instagram.com/joakimzickert

THANKS TO
Felix Berg, Andreas Nobel.

Every last bone in my body longs to click on the ‘buy now’ button, while it seems like the whole world is screaming Stop! But there are no limitations. You can get what you want when you want it delivered right to your door. Do we have only positive feelings when we unbox products we’ve ordered, or do we even feel some shame, disappointment or emptiness? Unboxing has opened a new arena for entertainment and marketing. Wherever there is supply and demand, there is likely to be an unboxing video.

In an existence where it is desirable to share rather than to own, unboxing does not result in a product being revealed from within some kind of packaging. Can you unbox without the box containing a product, and thus can unboxing itself be the product?

The basis for the project is the idea of one of the absolute tragedies of unboxing: the empty package. But could it have a therapeutic effect, cleansing us of our desires? The product is the act where we find the feeling, and the act can set us free.

CONTACT
k@hekmatara.com
+46 73 939 96 99
instagram.com/hekmatara
www.hekmatara.com

Violence in close personal relationships increases in conjunction with football matches, for example, and with school holidays and now during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s true all over the world. In China, there were three times as many police reports of violence in close personal relationships in February of 2020 compared to the same month in the previous year. In most of these cases, it’s women who have been abused by men with whom they are having or have had a relationship. In 2019, sixteen women died in Sweden as a result of violence in couple relationships. To talk about this openly, to remove the guilt and the shame from the victim and provide help, can save lives.

In my thesis project, I have asked myself the question of how I as a designer can create a product that both sounds an alarm and creates evidence by ensuring that more people are witness to the crime. The lack of evidence and witnesses is often the reason an investigation is dropped. During my process, I have been helped by Erica Jonsér, a sociologist and clinical curator with many years of experience working with this subject. She has helped me both by showing how reality looks for a victim of abuse and by discussing ideas and solutions with me.

CONTACT
design.eivarlovisa@gmail.com
+46 73 041 59 81
instagram.com/design.eivarlovisa
eivarlovisa.com

THANKS TO
Erica Jonsér, sociologist and curator;
Emilia Dahlström, sociologist at Uppsala Stadsmission;
Jonathan Foster, cinematography;
Matilda Lindstam Nilsson, actor.

Today the market is dominated by sofas and easy chairs upholstered with cold foam – polyether urethane, which is used in thick mattresses and hides the furniture's construction in favour of comfort and style. Who really knows what a sofa looks like on the inside? Synthetic fabrics, glues, urethane foam, form-cast foam, springs and timber frame: all these components ought to be recycled separately, but all too often are simply burned up.

I want to do just the opposite! By using the construction as the means of aesthetic expression, I’m able to feature the various components that make up the sofa and the easy chair. In a collaboration with Swedese I have designed comfortable lounge furnitures without upholstery. The sofa and easychair has a carefully balanced anatomy in which the materials live in symbiosis with one another. There is a vigour in the laminated veneer timber that meets the natural give of the leather. The seat, stretched across the timber framework, provides a seating angle that is adapted to the human body.

The materials are selected with consideration for how they will age. Wood, leather and woven linen are classic materials that can withstand both the test of time and quickly changing trends.

The construction conserves materials, which can be separated to facilitate restoration or recycling.

Pinot has emerged out of a process in which physical sketches, 3D plans, and scale models provided room to experiment. The physical testing of seating angles has produced just the right balance between comfort and material efficiency.

CONTACT
lindbladmika@gmail.com
+46 76 402 94 97
instagram.com/mikalindblad
www.mikalindblad.com

THANKS TO
Swedese, Mats Grennfalk, Fredrik Folke Ireklint, Stefan Toth, Linnea Remnemark.

When we use our bodies and our hands in learning, knowledge is rooted deeply, and the earlier we start the deeper those roots grow. We call it learning by doing. I have lived on two wheels all my life. My thesis project is about children’s first step into the world of bicycles and giving them a chance to take part in creating and then using their own first bikes. It includes a first balance bike for two-year-olds and a build-your-own package for four-year-olds.

My project has primarily been about technical product development. In a product whose purpose is education in motor skills and balance, aspects like angles, weighting and ergonomics must be top priorities. I have used CAD to examine every imaginable detail and to develop the mechanical system that best communicates with the user while still being safe.

Vingla is a build-your-own package with two different kinds of handlebars and two different wheel sizes in a variety of exciting colours. It is intended for children between the ages of two and four, and it offers a new way of learning motor skills and balance.

CONTACT
rasmus@steynerranden.com
+46 70 022 88 16
instagram.com/steynerranden

THANKS TO
Johan Nordin - Roi Division, Oskar Ahlgren - Teenage Engineering, Eddie Lager - Ride Cake, David Randén - Specialized, ABIC Kemi.

In this project, I have explored how design is influenced by circular economy, and how I as a designer relate to sustainability – social, economical, environmental and aesthetic.

Based on the brief of making a barstool I have designed Novum for public spaces such as restaurants, bars and office meeting areas. Each material used in the barstool can be taken apart and therefor be reconditioned when the furniture is worn out or the colours are dated. This makes it possible for Offecct to reupholster and refurbish the stool, thus extend its life.

Although the design of the product is my foremost concern, a circular approach should have a place in every design process. As designers we must take responsibility for resources, the manufacturing process and what happens with the object at the end of its lifespan. For me it’s an opportunity to take responsibility for my design and a justification for my role of creating new products.

CONTACT
ronja@reuber.se
+46 72 550 09 92
instagram.com/ronja.reuber
www.ronjareuber.com

THANKS TO
Maria Olofsson Karemyr, Tobias Strålman, Stefan Granström and Jonas Anhede Winge at Offecct. Miranda Eriksson at Anderssons Mekaniska, Andreas Nobel, Dana Ozollapa, Simon Schiller and Bar Central.

An interest in the concept of the design classic and in the pieces of furniture that have acquired that epithet led me to some classics by women architects and furniture designers who were overshadowed by their male colleagues – something that’s still happening today. As a woman designer, I want to highlight the contributions women have made to our field. It’s a celebration of women in the form of a throne.

I wanted to create a chair that gives the feeling of harmony, quality and comfort. There have been three main facets to the project: making a design classic, pioneering women designers, and my own rich cultural heritage from Ancient Mesopotamia.

Relying on the attractive force inherent in natural materials like timber and metal, I wanted to convey a sense of harmony. I have allowed the form and the function to complete each other with the help of carefully calculated dimensions and angles – all to enhance the comfort and symmetry of the geometrical forms.

I have collaborated with talented artisans to create a high-quality piece of furniture that will age with dignity.

CONTACT
sinar@sinaralexis.com
+46 76 55 789 47
instagram.com/sinar.alexis
www.sinaralexis.com

THANKS TO
Åke Axelsson, Granlund Tools, John Funkquist.

Rest is a sound-attenuating place for seclusion and rest intended for use in an open-plan office landscape. It’s a piece of furniture that highlights the importance of rest in the workplace in a society that is increasingly characterized by excessive stress and burning out.

How we are influenced by and relate to the space around us has been an important aspect of my project – what colour and form tell us and how they can change our experience a space. Research shows that sharp corners create stress and that rounded corners provide a sense of calm, as does the blue colour we associate with the sky and its unimaginable heights and openness.

CONTACT
sofiedesiree@gmail.com
+46 76 198 25 00
instagram.com/sofiedesiree__

THANKS TO
Zilenzio, Gabriel, Frendins snickeri, TMT design.

In the production of ceramics, various sorting standards are often used to determine whether an item can be classified as a factory first. Aesthetic deviations often impact the product’s value negatively and can lead to it being classified as a factory second or even discarded. In an era when we need to be focusing our efforts on minimizing waste of the planet’s resources, perhaps we should rethink how we evaluate products and so-called ‘beauty flaws’.

In this project, I have examined what happens if, instead of evaluating products based on aesthetic qualities, we only reject those that have flaws in functional quality.

By bringing variation and the uniqueness of each individual object to the fore, I have created a process for producing a cup that allows each of us to make our own judgements about the aesthetic deviations that occur naturally in any manufacturing process.

CONTACT
tildeullberg@gmail.com
+46 70 315 97 07
instagram.com/tildeullberg

THANKS TO
Jonas Lindholm, Karin Törnell.

I want to create something with an underlying tone of humour – a little folksy and familiar, but also with a sense of nostalgia. It was also important to be able to re-use already existing materials, but to use them in a new way.

The collection explores what happens when we take curtains that are associated with days gone by and transpose them to a youthful fashion environment. It’s about finding a balance between garment and curtain and creating something that is perceived by observers as familiar even though it’s in a new context.

During the course of the project, I have consistently taken a Dadaist approach to the work – compromising the curtain’s actual meaning and putting it into a new context. I have interpreted this literally, as in re-using the curtain as a material, but also more abstractly by transposing the curtain’s function in order to create form and silhouette in a garment.

CONTACT
alida.bard@gmail.com
instagram.com/alidabard
www.alidabard.com

THANKS TO
Astrid Olsson, Sandra Backlund, Sellpy.

The collection portrays a life experience that altered my entire mental world-view. I wanted to give society an insight into what it’s like to be misunderstood in your life. Unless you’ve experienced something similar, it’s hard to fully understand what it’s like. That’s why I wanted to tell my own story – in hopes of disproving the misinterpretations that easily arise – about how I survived an inner war, created by someone I loved, and how the surrounding world’s response has changed me.

The project is based on documented life stories from within my Polish military family and from my recorded memories and moods. By putting my own story in relation to a military context, I wanted to explore the link between my inner war and the mental and physical experiences a soldier suffers through during and after a war.

‘To draw is to understand what one sees’ is an expression I have related to and employed as a research method. The Polish military uniform is my primary point of departure. By drawing what I saw without looking at the paper, I wanted to examine various combinations of the play of lines and thereby define new proportions, details and garment types.

CONTACT
akf.friberg@gmail.com
+46 707 347 084
instagram.com/ak.friberg

THANKS TO
Pia Thorup Steen, Nyströmstockholm.

The foundation of my thesis project is the daydreams of my childhood – the places I fantasised about and the characters I built up. The characters in my ‘worlds’ were often rooted in personas I wanted to be and whose attributes I wanted to have – like extensions or undeveloped sides of my ego.

How do I express a daydream or a fantasy as something physically tangible and in a fashion context?

I have based my project primarily on myself, since the foundation of the idea was created from my fantasies. I have chosen to delineate certain limits, allowing the most important to come forward and illuminating the fundamental essence in the collection. Above all, with a limited palette of colours and a monochromatic colour setting in each look, I have allowed the shape and silhouette to take the leading part.

My primary purpose is to take something most private, turn it inside out, analyse it, take it a step further and then share it with others – to a great extent because it can be a way to achieve the ultimate acceptance of what has been, what is, and the experience of one's own self. Perhaps it is possible in this way to create community, or at the very least to convey the beauty in creating something with one’s own hands.

CONTACT
clara.nordwall@gmail.com
+46 76 910 18 99
instagram.com/claranordwall
THANKS TO
Astrid Olsson, Bea Szenfeld, Kokkolan Tannery.

Dalarna County and its traditional Mora folk dress has always been an important part of my life. I’ve spent much of my free time in Dalarna, mostly out in nature, and the Mora costume is something I have worn on formal occasions. It’s important that the dress is worn ‘correctly’ – it has its own rules, which is interesting to me. But I want to create something from tradition, from my own cultural heritage, and incorporate it into my own life today. I want my memories of nature, the dress and the colours/paintings I remember and strongly associate with Dalarna to come together with a youthful, urban life without right and wrong.

The question is whether one can take elements of a strong tradition and allow them to provide the inspiration for something completely different. On the other hand, are not the parts of the traditional folk dress actually ‘only’ clothing, and shouldn’t I just be able to wear them however I want? I have decided that I can use the costume as inspiration. I have based my work on certain patterns in order to understand the configuration of the costume. In order to incorporate Dalarna and its traditional dress into my life today, I have chosen to work with non-traditional materials such as sequins. My garments also show a lot more skin than the traditional dress and don’t follow any rules.

I have also worked with hair – my own hair and horsehair – to create hair accessories, which from the beginning were a kind of loving gift to complement the traditional dress. Other elements from Dalarna that I have chosen to incorporate in the collection are kurbits paintings, the words of an old poem, and natural timber.

CONTACT
erikssonebbas@gmail.com
+46 72 252 77 14
instagram.com/ebbbaaeriksson

THANKS TO
Erika Borbos, Barbro Wallin, Britt-Marie Nilsson och Dala Clogs Träskofabrik i Oxberg.

My thesis project begins with my fascination for everyday fashion and urbanity. As a point of departure for the work, I have developed a research method inspired by the Situationsists and their idea of rediscovering the city through playfulness. I have walked through downtown Stockholm and documented in words and pictures the urban environments that make up my daily life, focusing in particular on everyday fashion.

My collection is a product of the environments and people I have observed with the purpose of working out a way I could express urbanity and of determining which aspects of everyday fashion interest me. I have based it on key items and silhouettes, but also on a general feeling in my research. Based on my personal interest in an orderly, well-tailored silhouette and classic garments, I have been particularly inspired by common garment types and silhouettes. But along the way I’ve also found inspiration in the less common, unexpected fashion encountered in the street. It is in the interplay between the typical and the unexpected that the feeling of urbanity and the extraordinary in the everyday live.

CONTACT
elisolbergdesign@gmail.com
+46 70 981 23 30
instagram.com/solberg.eli

THANKS TO
Marina Kereklidou, Alexander Krantz, Magnus Nyström, Nyström Stockholm AB.

Öckerö, where I was born and raised, is a place that is warm to my heart. There is a professional fishing culture that everyone is part of, more or less. I have realized that in previous projects I have subconsciously referred to my heritage in garment types, color choices and cuts. At the same time, I have created new references for clothes by moving to Stockholm, a much more urban environment.

For my future I felt it was important to explore my heritage from Öckerö, combined with what I have created myself to this day. I wanted to see what form it would take in a dissertation and give a central role to what has previously been fragments in my work. What have I brought with me through my move from my home town and what have I created? The goal was to work with a collection inspired by the fishing culture I grew up with and adapt it to my current context, where the historical references play an important secondary role, while the primary ones are my own created references about clothes.

CONTACT
emilia.cc.utbult@gmail.com
+46 76 168 12 50
instagram.com/emiliautbult

THANKS TO
Miriam Parkman, Västerland GG 181, Bo Börjesson, Margareta och Leif-Erik Henning, Bengt och Gunilla Edvardsson.

The point of departure for the project is an interest in areas of design other than fashion, both materially and visually. We want to shift the fashion context in which we find ourselves in order to enrich it by adding non-textile materials and new design elements, and by exploring what a multi-material practice might look like.

The non-textile materials we chose to use in the collection are clay, timber and tin. We have created abstract objects that have been allowed to provide the basis for how the garments are designed, and we also used clay in our fabric draping, developing a technique for how sculpted forms can be translated into fabric.

One hope we have for the collection is that it can provide us space to experiment with how our work might find a place in multiple contexts simultaneously and be experienced as both objects to wear and objects to exhibit.

CONTACT
fridanilsson.m@gmail.com
+46 73 526 73 39
www.instagram.com/frida______________________/

alva.lingestal@gmail.com
+46 72 031 67 15
instagram.com/alvalingestal

THANKS TO
Sandra Backlund, Eva Berg, Göran Lingestål, Sanna Nilsson, Benedicte Elise Eggesbo.

The house was very dilapidated, with worn wallpaper, holes in the floor and old furniture. But for me it was the most beautiful house on Earth. Everything had a history that could be read in the scrapes and the dents. My grandmother and grandfather lived very eccentric lives, and both have been great sources of inspiration for me. My grandmother, who was very feminine and elegant but also independent, loved to stand out. And my grandfather, who grew up in Harlem, in New York, was an artist and very interested in Zen Buddhism, wabi-sabi and kintsugi.

By not following the Western world’s stereotypical conceptions of clothing and beauty, I have created a collection for someone who wants to look elegant but not conventional, someone who values individuality and the freedom to express themselves, but at the same time someone who does not forget solidarity with others and with the environment – in other words, someone like my grandmother. Important aspects of the project have been taking advantage of what we already have, and finding beauty in the imperfect, by making use of scraps of cloth; not conforming to established principles of balance, proportion and design; and using old handicraft techniques such as smocking and paper lithography.

CONTACT
jadecropper@gmail.com
+46 70 750 97 95
instagram.com/jadecropper

THANKS TO
Sandra Backlund, Kevin Nilsson.

In striving to achieve a more sustainable fashion industry, the raw material of the forest is held up as a potential solution. In the discussion we’re lacking the perspective of how the forest has been used – if it has been harvested by selective cutting or by clear-cutting – and the difference between an industrial forest and a living natural forest.

The Blue Hour illuminates modern Swedish forestry in relation to past eras when the forest was seen as a sacred space. By giving the forest a persona – the wood nymph, its protective spirit – I want to highlight the forest’s own will and raison d’être.

I have examined our relationship to the forest through my kinship with the Forest Finns, a slash-and-burn culture that lived in symbiosis with nature despite clearing forests for farming. I have found a way to manifest it through fashion by visiting the Forest Finn Centre in Torsby and by spending time in the forest and examining structures, materials and light.

The materials in the collection are sourced from a historical context and from modern functional apparel. The leather is laser-cut in order to replicate the texture of ashes. The print is based on woodland mycelium, the fragile fungal threads that are broken off by the advance of logging machinery. The working of the materials has been designed to approach an organic expression. Techniques such as wet-moulded leather and fully pleated silk organza are reminiscent of the forest’s wild and formless nature.

CONTACT
jannica.hagfors@edu.beckmans.se
+46 73 649 49 36
instagram.com/jannicahagfors

THANKS TO
Sala Laser, Tärnsjö Garveri, Finnskogscentrum i Torsby, Naturklubben i Ramnäs.

The purpose of my work is to explore the opportunities and limitations of the method of creating clothing entirely from a single pattern part. I want to find out if the method can be considered a sustainable technical design tool and present an alternative way of breaking down a piece of clothing. At the same time, I don’t want to make it overly clear, but rather I would like to show that the design idiom can still be more important than technology, but with sustainable thinking right from the construction phase. My work, which has evolved during the process, began with design research with great volume and organic inclinations. This I later combined with my way of working with pattern construction.

CONTACT
lisa96.jacobsson@hotmail.com
+46 72 734 19 96
instagram.com/lisahelenajacobsson

THANKS TO
Marina Kereklidou, Fabriken i Bunn, Jofotex Tyger.

Devoid explores 3D printing as a medium in the fashion context. Rooted in a deep interest in digital techniques, the collection attempts to elevate the status of digital artisanry, which is seldom granted an unquestioned place in the context of couture.

Here digital and analogue crafts are woven together and given form in a post-digital version of couture. Contrasting soft, flowing silhouettes in couture materials with hard, static forms in technically-oriented textiles, the collection highlights the individual attributes of craftsmanship. With the help of innovative techniques, 3D printing is incorporated on multiple levels: as a framework for the entire garment, injected into the fabrics, and through appliqués and accessories. New types of lace and embroidery are created, designed specifically for this project.

Devoid invites a tactile encounter between high-resolution reality and pixelated fiction manifested in eight intricately detailed outfits.

CONTACT
rita.h.roslin@gmail
+46 76 400 59 22
instagram.com/ritaroslin
www.ritaroslin.com

THANKS TO
Streamateria, Marina Kereklidou, BJOERN.

I gather points of reference from my memories – the forms and colours in my brother’s paintings, the walls and train cars on which they were made, and the spontaneity they express. I then allow these points of reference to collide with their direct opposite – stylish, well-sewn and masterfully tailored garments.

We live in a fashion climate in which ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ have lost their meanings. A subculture is no longer something that exists outside of the fashion system. A subculture is only the first step toward an assimilation of its language and symbols, which are later used by the fashion designer, who doesn’t necessarily have his or her own relationship to or understanding of what the subculture originally stood for.

In the same way, it is this that has given me the desire to bring to the fore and celebrate the first actual subculture I ever encountered as a child, and allow it to confront the world where I have found a sense of belonging as an adult. Through this encounter I want to once and for all demonstrate that graffiti – in contrast to what Ordinance 1207 of the criminal code suggests – was never intended as a means of vandalism.

CONTACT
robinpauliestenberg@gmail.com
+46 73 600 62 62
instagram.com/robinpauliestenberg

THANKS TO
Gram Shoes, Shirin El-Hage, Felix Ahlström, Tim Mårtensson, Sandra Backlund, Joakim Stenberg, Christer Stenberg, Gunilla Lindahl.

The feeling of not fitting in with society’s clothing norms has resulted in daydreams of being allowed to be someone else for a while, of being able to wear clothing that is extravagant and sensual. Daydreams of going out on the street without feeling exposed to society’s norms and opinions.

The constant question throughout the project has been whether the garments and the designs I create are in fact gender neutral. And is there really a need for gender-neutral clothing? Is it the designs themselves that are gender-neutral, or is it the wearer who determines the feeling?

In the beginning of the process, I draped with silk paper as a simple way to mock up voluminous forms. Silk paper wrinkles easily and takes on a very fine texture in draping, which I have translated to the fabric with the help of pleating. Pleating gives a feeling of fragility and romance, and, in combination with more stereotypically masculine materials, I hope to be able to convey the feeling I’m striving for.

Value words for the collection: sensual, fragile, flamboyant, gender neutral, romantic, everyday luxury.

CONTACT
info@robinsoderholm.com
+46 70 099 83 37
instagram.com/robinsoderholm

THANKS TO
Fredrik Robertsson, Sandra Backlund, Bea Szenfeld, Gustaf Lindholm, Elin Aspfors, Samuel Westerberg.

I took a photo of myself that is so generic it could be used to advertise almost anything. With the help of simple edits, fonts, logos and words approximating copy from familiar companies, I create invented advertising images from my own photograph. The advertisements are then placed in public spaces suitable for the different projects in credible locations that match the environment. The goal is for the images to be mistaken for real advertising and remain in place as long as possible. Each of the projects is documented and captured in a film.

I have always liked to experiment with recognisable material, and then to turn it into something relevant for me. I do this in part because I think it’s fun, but also because it’s a different and visually effective way of demonstrating something and getting attention.

The places I’ve explored include public spaces, shops, restaurants, subways and other everyday areas that are accessible to everyone. The project becomes a study of how we view our environment, how hollow advertising is and how easily we can be fooled by small visual tricks.

CONTACT
adamsiversenljung@gmail.com
+46 70 755 88 99
instagram.com/husmusen
adamsiversenljung.com

I have lived in cities for almost thirteen years. But before I started living in cities I grew up in Junsele, a village in Sollefteå Municipality in Västernorrland County. The greater the distance to home, and the more time that has passed since I lived there, the more relevant and important the place has become for me. At the same time, the prevailing norm is urban, and the cities’ perspectives and conditions dominate.

With this project I want to bring other perspectives to the fore and illuminate issues of visibility, accessibility, exploitation of natural resources and the gap between rural communities and cities.

With the on-going pandemic, the distance to my hometown and the difficulty of getting there has become more tangible than ever. But with the help of locals in Junsele I have been able to visit the area from a distance, and together with them I have created a personal and visual documentation through pictures and words about the place where I grew up.

88037.se

CONTACT
agnesmostrom@gmail.com
+46 73 808 24 71
instagram.com/agnesmostrom
www.agnesmostrom.se

THANKS TO
Tine Moström, Mats Moström, Digaloo Digitaltryckeri AB, Mattias Jakobsson, Lina Forsgren.

My thesis project is a visual expression of the therapeutic power of books. Reading therapy, which falls under the umbrella term bibliotherapy, is about giving readers a list of books adapted to their own experiences and concerns. Reading the right book at the right time can change a person’s life. Classic literary works remain important, and their messages and themes about humanity live on through us. The book can be a source of inspiration and hope, and in turn can become a catalyst for change.

A Book About Books is a collection of books and themes about humanity and our inner lives focusing on the themes of love, sorrow, physical illness, perseverance and self-criticism. My thesis project is an introduction to reading therapy, but also a desire to highlight the book in its physical form. It is a personal exploration of my role as a designer in combination with my interest in reading and book design.

CONTACT
afknutsson@gmail.com
@annafebe___

THANKS TO
Nexstory, Åtta45, Linnea Jacobsson.

The film follows man on the road to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In today’s society, the top of the pyramid is always visible and within reach for many. But what are the risks if the road to self-actualisation passes through social and material status?

The project aims to explore and create a sense of the hunt for self-actualisation – the striving to become the best version of oneself. What does that hunt feel like, and does it ever end?

The film is based primarily on the collage technique of ‘found footage’, which in this case means documentary material sourced on the Internet. The material is of varying quality and has been created by different people, but together the fragments form a story. Throughout the working process, I have allowed my intuition to guide the selection of images that can reflect this hunt. Guided meditation, which is a popular tool for self-development, is used in the piece to lead the viewer to the top of the pyramid.

CONTACT
felix.scheynius@gmail.com
+46 73 254 11 08
www.felixscheynius.com

THANKS TO
Martin Löfqvist.

I’ve always thought that time is very interesting. It can be linear or circular, and it can be interpreted as labour hours or aeons, but regardless of how we look at it, we’re all influenced by it. I think there is a value in exploring how people value and work with time, especially in a social climate that so highly prioritises efficiency.

One of the goals of the project was to get some clarity on how we can relate to time and what correlation there may be between time and quality. During the course of the project, I discovered that time, like visual communications, has no inherent value and must be put in context if it is to be evaluated.

Quality:Time takes the form of a series of six projects in which each new project takes twice as long as the previous one.

CONTACT
fredrik.wickberg@hotmail.com
+46 70 493 20 49
instagram.com/the_masulo

It irritates me that the question in many of these situations is loaded with assumptions, and that the one asking the question never seems to be satisfied with the answer. I have long wondered if this irritation is mine alone or if it’s a feeling I share with others. And judging by the flood of answers I got when I asked people about their reactions to the question, I am not the only one.

Q&A is a posters series and magazine based on thirty people’s experiences, thoughts and feelings about the question, ‘where are you really from?’. The purpose of this work is to use design, language and illustration as tools for presenting people's relationship to the issue.

CONTACT
hannah.green.youngblood@gmail.com
+46 73 421 35 10
www.greenyoungblood.com

THANKS TO
Parasto Backman, Marcelo Gustafsson, Monica Guzmán and the anonymous participants.

A few years ago, we used the Internet more to create a private refuge than to share our texts and pictures with others in a pre-designed feed. We now produce content that is consumed in just a few seconds only to be scrolled past and forgotten. The Internet, which was once free and decentralised, has been relocated to vast server rooms and is controlled by a small number of technology companies that seem to prioritise their advertisers more than their users.

SundaySites.cafe is an initiative that encourages us to express ourselves through HTML and CSS instead of being limited to text and images in predetermined templates. By using coding as a social activity, the project has become a gathering place for the curious, the experienced and the novice – a context where they have an opportunity to work on, discuss and demonstrate their creations through HTML-based art, design and interactive poetry.

CONTACT
jhnbngtssn@gmail.com
+46 70 758 45 75
instagram.com/johnxbengtsson
www.johnbengtsson.com

THANKS TO
All the workshop participants.

We live in a time that to a great extent is about showing off what exciting and eventful lives we lead. Many in my generation take pictures not just for the sake of memories, but to put them on social media and show off a perfect and interesting life. This leads us to maximise and spice up the pictures with filters and angles, and to edit the pictures in various ways. Many influencers have been caught out having faked pictures with the help of everything from minor edits to faking fantastical travels they never took.

We can only remember many of our memories because of the pictures we have saved. What happens with our memory if we manipulate our pictures? Will we remember how it really was and tell our story truthfully, both to ourselves and to the next generation?

I have illustrated this in an analogue photo album with spiced-up pictures from my childhood.

CONTACT
julius.tuvenvall@hotmail.com
+46 70 488 80 06
www.juliustuvenvall.se

A tarot card reading is like a story in pictures. However, it is not a story that comes out complete, but rather a draft for the reader to finish writing – by linking together the plot and creating meaning in the interstitial spaces. In this way, tarot cards help us to see by engaging us actively in our own stories.

The story is written by thoughts. When we step into a Virtual Reality environment, our thoughts and senses are given more leeway. We leave our physical body behind and can focus more on what we see – images are given a stronger voice. We are transformed into a kind of inverse ghost – the body remains but the spirit has been transported to another place.

CONTACT
linareidarsdotter@gmail.com
+46 70 970 36 35
instagram.com/linareidarsdotter
www.linareidarsdotter.com

THANKS TO
Daniel Lucid, AktiVRa.

We are accustomed to talking about climate impact in the near future, but I believe we need to see it from a new perspective that looks even further ahead in time. In this project I explore the long-term remnants of what is known as the Anthropocene, or the Human Epoch.

The objects that are going to endure from the Anthropocene era, objects that have emerged in step with human development, are known as technofossils. Unlike regular fossils, which are derived from living things, technofossils have been created by or as a result of human activity. A mineral that has been formed by melted plastic washed up on beaches, radioactive uranium glass marbles created by the first atomic bomb test – these are the kinds of things we’re leaving behind for future generations to find.

Humanity has often turned to nature to try to understand what happened before us. If fossils are the Earth’s history books, then technofossils are human’s. These are the objects that will be left to tell our history when we are no longer here to do it ourselves.

CONTACT
louise.silfversparre@gmail.com
+46 76 181 90 21
instagram.com/louisesilfversparre

THANKS TO
Inlovewith.
goodbyekansasstudios.com

Certain people find that today’s digital communication platforms have a negative impact on their attention capacity and stress level. I believe the problem lies not in the technology itself but rather in the business models that have shaped it. Thus it is possible to design social media that counteract this negative impact. But how might they look and work? In an attempt to answer that question, I have created a communications platform that aims for reflection rather than endless dopamine release.

Inspired by the exchange of letters, magazines and the design philosophy slow technology, slo-th.network is a discussion forum that opposes the immediate and the FOMO-oriented norms of social media. In contrast to regular social media, messages are delivered only once per day. Instead of relying on hashtags, the community corresponds on one particular topic at a time and then shifts its focus to another, so-called season. To further optimise the conditions for reflection, postings can only be written in offline mode.

CONTACT
mans@manspeterson.se
+46 70 355 06 05
instagram.com/manspeterson

THANKS TO
Albin Sjödin.

In all the time we’ve been measuring income differences in Sweden, the gap between rich and poor has never been as great as it is today. On the subway line between Ropsten and Norsborg in Stockholm there are neighbourhoods where the median income is 40% above the national average in Sweden and others where it is 40% below average. I have taken an interest in how the difference is manifested in public spaces along the subway line by conducting a study in which I have documented the font used in shops in the vicinity of the subway stations. I have chosen to look more closely at fonts because we choose them in order to make a selected target group feel welcome and interested. My goal has been to find out if there is a difference in the choice of font among the different places along the line. The study led subsequently to the development of the variable font Typen as a commentary on the findings.

typen.se

CONTACT
reidarpritzel@gmail.com
+46 73 975 34 07
@reidariet
www.reidarpritzel.com
 
THANKS TO
Harry Woodrow.

In the cities we have become so separated from nature that we hardly notice the plants that, after all, exist around us.Plants have been reduced to decorations and props. As a result, they aren’t perceived as living.

With my own gaze as the point of departure, I want to shed light on the presence of plants among us. I have taken walks to collect and document what I’ve found. What is it that captures my interest, and how does my viewpoint change over time?

CONTACT
saradunker@gmail.com
+46 70 731 08 88
instagram.com/saradunker
www.saradunker.se

THANKS TO
Dawn Sanders, Stefania Malmsten, Harry Woodrow.

In my project, I have asked myself whether as a designer I can use play in a way that we adults perhaps no longer recognize so well – the kind of play that brings on a state of flow in which events, actions and spectacular things follow one after another seamlessly.

We live in chaotic times in which epidemics, natural disasters, and wars recur time and again. Design cannot save the world, perhaps, but it can provide keyhole views into various little parallel fantasy worlds with alternative ways of looking at things and experiencing things.

My project comprises a number of games or experiments that are documented in a printed publication that allows the public some insight into them and into my design process and method. The experiments have resulted in a kind of system that can be used to develop letter shapes, which together can create a unique idiom, language or letters previously unknown to the observer. Just as play does not generate results, neither does my project; instead it offers inspiration, development and passion.

CONTACT
tildaesther.a@gmail.com
+46 73 085 81 08
instagram.com/tildamedswish
www.tildaaspelin.com

THANKS TO
Brita Lindvall Leitmann, Aron Kullander, Katrín Helgadottir.

In a time that exerts heavy pressure and tough demands on creativity, communications, expertise, flexibility, speed and adaptability, among other things, I have made a machine that is designed to be able to replace myself as a graphic designer. It is a mechanical self-portrait that replaces all of Ville Högström’s most important attributes on demand.

In my professional role as a graphic designer, the one who performs the work assumes the position not just of creative material creator but also the role of problem-solver. In a time when creative solutions are in greater demand in response to a variety of issues, my solution has come to be this: a reproductive, indefatigable and innovative ‘me’ that can’t say no, doesn’t get paid, and never stops working.

Mechanical Me is inspired in part by Christopher Polhem’s mechanical alphabet and Jean Tinguely’s do-it-yourself drawing machines.

CONTACT
villeinteskita@gmail.com
+46 70 545 24 53
instagram.com/ville.gif