This is a good year. Almost 200-250 creatives have graduated as class of 2022 and I am happy. Here is my report.
Design schools Beckmans, Malmstens and Konstfack in Stockholm have exhibited their graduates. Konstfack have their graduates in two batches with bachelors shown previously this year. I did a report about that here.
I am very happy with this generation of graduates. When I look at a new generation like this I expect them to challenge me and bring someting new to the table. Like the easy chair by Julia Sthillert at Malmstens. She contacted gaming company Activision to make a physical chair for one of their digital carachters (the Orcs in World of Warcraft). That is new, never seen before, addressing a group that should be seen (gamers), creative and well executed.
This is a good example of what a person like me is looking for in a new generation of designers. I totally give this a full score.
I am also drawn to talents who use a new way of doing things. Perhaps something that has been done before but new to a larger scale. Last year there was a designer at Konstfack who scavaged bricks from a factory where he grew up, and from these bricks he made outdoor furniture. I just loved the local, personal, historical aspect of that.
This year John Andersson at Konstfack made these lowkey and low-tech pieces. Bumping wood and then adding just water. This gives the surface a 3D effect and can be made into patterns. It is just so simple and poetic. When talking to him he was interested in having this on window frames. And that would be very understated and beautiful. Loved this too.
Speaking of wood. It’s easy to be seduced by size and shape. Simon Mattisson, from Beckmans, made these organic shaped pieces. Could be bookshelves or benches. He looked at insects, vermin and pest destroying the trees in our forrest. When infected these trees can not be used. Until now. If grounded to a flour and then add some resin you can then 3D print this. Cool, huh? Wood that would normally be sent to burning can now be used.
Full score. On the critical side is that there is too much resin in the paste (about 50%).
Three chairs above. Do we need another chair? Absolutely not, unless it brings something new to the table. And this generation of graduates do that. I am impressed.
Here are three students from Konstfack. Top one is by Nadia Smedeland that wanted to make sensory design and want us to touch and feel the chair.
Middle one is by Ernst Regnström Larsson, also Konstfack, who made this chair in granite. Talk about durability. Straight, masculine and still a soft touch.
Third chair is by Laura Thorsgaard Kjaer from Konstfack. With this intarsia chair she wants to address happiness and emotional furniture.
And it seems like this generation are more interested in how things look than previously. I really don’t mind. Especially if it is relevant. Sustainability is like a silent ghost, but not really the main issue.
Like this lamp by Elias Berg at Beckmans. The light source is dressed in solar panels that have been given patterns. Niceness before function?
Not necessarily “nice” but at least communication via form. Tora Kirchmeier made a collection about telling the world you are in grief. Are we talking enough about loss and death? Why not signal to the world that you are in grief by having a window blind with a mourning boarder. Doormat too. So that people will know when they enter a house.
Also a bit of communications. Bathroom cabinets. Why are they so secret? Mika Lindblad from Konstfack experimented with transparency. What happens when we are open about the medication we take?
I did also like the project by Gabriela Stenclova from Konstfack. What if you build a lamp with clamps instead of glue. Not necessarily for a sustainable perspective but so you can add your own things in the lamp. Or change by the season. Add your personality (again…).
Rounding off by showing some quick things that I liked. Apparently a lot of room dividers and hangers. Here Anzelika Zabirova and Tobias Pålsson for Malmstens
Rebecca Euren for Malmstens.
Mikaela Midell for Beckmans.
Beautiful and aesthetic ceramics by Mimmi Blomqvist at Konstfack. I like how she gave the ceramics a balloon like look.
At Malmstens they were apparently obsessed with benches. Here two by Gustaf Douhan, Mårten Godske and Malin Moderatho Winther.