Swedish biannual interior fair Formex took place in August. Bigger and better? Well not necessarily bigger but absolutely better. Here is my report.
Formex in August attracted around 350 brands. And maybe it wasn’t bigger than previous – but it had a strong energy. Super fun. Halls were changed and everything fellt new.
As said – it might be a smaller fair than usual – but it had the energy of Formex pre pandemic. This is a five out of five. Full score. I think Formex did something really, really nice.
Most fairs in the industry are struggling. Will brands exhibit or find other ways of doing business? At the beginning of times, fairs were a marketplace for buying things to your stores. Now we do it online and off seasons.
So what kind of meeting place should a fair be? It is a big discussion but something discussed all over the world. More workshops and seminars? Less? Attracting a new crowd, that is not necessarily buying things?
I will not go into this, and I am not sure I have the right answer, but I love fairs. I meet people and see nice stuff. This year a lot of my peers in Sweden questioned the sustainability of having a fair like Formex. “Do we need more stuff?”. Of course we need fairs like Formex. It’s like opera. Do we need opera? Of course we do.
And from a sustainable angle. Formex is a place where you find jigsaw puzzles made sustainably and bike repair kits. You can choose to see a fair like Formex as only flower pots noone wants – or dig a little deeper and find fun sustainable things.
Well. Formex is of course about colours and trends. This year I found more quirky and fun things in a long time. Here are just some of my favourites.
Quirky
I want to call this first trend “quirky”. It is nostalgic, childish, colourful and plain fun (and strange). This are objects you either love or hate. Above a hedgehog candleholder from Rice.
A new wallpaper from Lisa Bengtsson. Who doesn’t love crazy cat ladies?
Two vases above from Rice.
And these two vases from Bloomingville. It’s strange and I love it.
Candels made of recycled candles by Time to Candle.
Make it big
Everything gets bigger. The bigger the better. Especially ceramic pieces. Above Jakobsdals and I am also struck by how they are starting to work with proper vintage and second hand. They go to parts of the world and buy vintage pieces, just like the pottery above. Only one piece is available – but they manage to handle that. Super interesting.
Jakobsdals.
Olsson Gerthel
Miljögården with a large bottle
Big pottery at Unik Design.
Another bug thing was this table cloth or throw or whatever you want to use it for. I love how it is larger than life. By Axlings.
Colours
Formex is usually not the best place to spot colour trends. Why? Well very often brands plainly just go for colours they like – not what is trending. At candle factory Liljeholmens we could see orange, emerald green, grey, mint blue and a powder pink.
Almost the same colours at the Vietnamese installation.
This place, dusty blue at the trend exhibition. Also a tbit of powder pink.
A table with burnt orange, blur and egg shell by Bloomingville.
Powder pink, minty blue and burgundy. It is just a bit of orange missing. Here at Ohlsson Lohaven.
Burgundy, a bit of orange and some green. Here at the amazing lamps by Ståhl.
Nostalgia
Nostalgia is a huge theme in the interior industry. It could be a 50s pattern or 80s reference. But regardless it is supposed to makes us think of the good old days. Here notebooks at Ohlsson Lohaven.
And of course animal prints. Here as wrapping paper and as bags at Ceannis.
But at Formex you nowadays always find local nostalgic stuff. Very Swedish. Like “hyllremsa” above. Every summer house in Sweden have had that. Now you can buy a new one. You add the lace part on the edge of your kitchen cabinet so make it look pretty. Doesn’t really have any functionality. And above the wood crate for your local pilsner. Super cute.
Other
Formex is a fair with huge diversity and I need to have a section with things I saw that I like – that isn’t necessarily part of a larger trend. Like these paintings by Annika Johansson Art.
And this extremely colourful print by Albamatilde.
Large and colourful by Hve me over.
But things can also be quiet and poetic. Like this lamp. You add the circles for more light. By designstudio Tuesday.
Or this. How Hilke made a collab with Moomin but skipped the typical cartoon and made a jug with the shape of Moomin. Super lovely.
Or simply just strange mushrooms in wood.
As for my participation. I continue to do my 45 minute quick tours of the fair. Daily. About 50 people attended per day. Intense and fun.
I also did my usual seminars on stage.
And lastly – I did a Christmas exhibition with five people doing their interpretation of Christmas 2024. Here is my tree with repainted ornaments from Rusta.