I have just come back from Frankfurt, Germany an the fair Tendence. I will report more from this, but the first piece will be about the project Roots of Scandinavia.
Three times I have been working on a concept with Swedish designers in a joint stand at various fairs. You can read about previous installations for instance here at Roots of Sweden. This is the fourth time we do this. The concept is pretty simple. Scandinavian design is pretty hyped now and buyers are curious about Scandinavian brands, and also Scandinavian brands are curious about the European market. So I bundle about ten companies together and try to make an interesting exhibition at a commercial fair. This year we were approached by some Finnish brands and we then changed the name from Roots of Sweden to Roots of Scandinavia. Who knows – perhaps we will invite Norwegian brands or even Baltic brands in the future.
And the concept is super easy. Every company gets a wall, and three podiums. We arrange Swedish fika, lighting, PR and a bit of marketing in order. Easy peasy.
This year we had the opportunity to present the following companies:
Smadi with their nice reindeer patterns.
Eldvarm with fireplace accessories. Very “hygge”.
Cuero with updated design classics and amazing leather work.
Valona with their version of Finnish tradition of “himmeli”. Here in wood instead of hay straw.
Ullakkopouti with ther quirky cakestands.
And I think Ewa got most attention of all. Here is a clever socket that you can use for any electrical device. You monitor and control everything from your phone. I have one at the country house and can put on the lights from the car when we park. But you can also put on the coffee maker from your kitchen – and even control the temperatire in the rooms. A lot of things from a small technical device.
Every day at 15.00 we served Swedish “fika”. We became the place where everyone could go to for a fresh cup of coffee and some suger so you would last the rest of the day. Swedish fika has many layers of information. This is the social gathering we have when you gossip about the people not there… So you better be at next fika or we will gossip about you.
Swedish fika
During the fair, Tendence have a press tour run by professor Hans-JergMaier-Aichen and he of course stopped by the stand to look at what Scandinavian design we had brought.
I also had a presentation and press meeting. I love to talk about what Scandinavian design is (minimalistic/reduced, true to materials/few material mixes and functional). And I of course try to explain why trends like Hygge and Lagom have become so big (they think we have balance…).
Attending a fair like this is of course not only about signing orders, but also to network, so every evening there were dinners and laughter.
And this is obviously the whole team. Thank you all for a great four days.