(originally appeared in Saab Magazine)
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Icelandic design, too, has moved into the spotlight with the “Transforme – Icelandic Design: New Generation” exhibition held at the VIA in Paris last spring, the first overseas show of its kind. Although, historically, raw materials have been difficult to come by in this land of fire and ice, Icelandic designers have always found innovative ways to use whatever they could lay their hands on, for instance: wool, lava rock and driftwood.
Today, Icelandic designers continue to imaginatively explore the expressive potential of such materials. Anna Póra Karlsdóttir and Gudrún Gunnarsdóttir’s self-produced Tó-Tó felt bowl, for example, uses a traditional material in an original way to create something that is fun yet useful.
Although the design landscape has become increasingly internationalized over the last decade, Scandinavian designers continue to enjoy an influential position within it with many now working for foreign manufacturers as well as Nordic firms. While on the one hand their product solutions resolutely embody the well-established attributes of Scandinavian design – simplicity of form, economy of means, honesty of construction and appropriate function – on the other they often incorporate distinct regional differences in style.
Yet at the same time these objects easily transcend geographical borders through their universal and engagingly humanistic language of form. Extending a formidable design heritage, Scandinavian designers today maintain the belief that for a product to be successful it must harmonize poetry and practicality so as to satisfy both the heart and the head.
In an uncertain world, Scandinavian design can still be relied upon for its quality, inventiveness and democratic appeal. For the foreseeable future at least, there is little doubt that the five Nordic nations will remain an important cultural force in the creation of objects that give meaning and joy to our domestic environment.
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