Beckmans College of Design holds three kinds of students – fashion, visual communication and design. This review is looking at the design students. And it looks like a very professional year.
Yesterday I reported on the graduates from Handarbetets Vänner and their eleven students. Beckmans hosts a slightly larger group with 13 students. The difference is of course that Handarbetets vänner is fully focused on craft, while Beckmans holds a larger perspective on design. It is of course difficult to avoid to compare the two schools. Almost the same number of design students, leaving a mark on our current times.
Beckmans presents more sleek and finished products. Handarbetets Vänner is much more tied to the material and craft.
As a comparison. Student Annelie Wihlborg made fabric that was double woven. This means that the fabric have the same pattern but different colour on the other side.
So, going back to the comparison between the two schools. Beckmans deliver a great idea, a great product. Visually nice. But, I don’t think Handarbetets Vänner would accept the hemlines or the edges of the product. Handarbetets Vänner is all about the craft and quality, and less about design innovation.
Let’s be clear – I do like the project by Wihlborg. I am just trying to point out the difference between the schools.
Wihlborg did good. And so did basically everyone at Beckmans. I was sleek, polished, finished. Concepts had been worked on. Had a meaning.
One of my favourite projects was this bench or table by Sofie Krüll. The functionality is there but of less importance. Instead it is nostalgic and just visually nice. Effective usage of materials? Absolutely not, but still very nice. I totally see this as a piece for a producer like Vaarni, Hem or even Blå Station.
Continuing the sleek theme. This speaker by Imad Bankabbou looks so finished you almost think you’ve seen it at a store already. Ready to market.
Johanna Ringqvist brought finished and ready stools for public spaces. Different heights for different people. Also a sleek project. What impressed me double with this project, was how she had made the prototypes herself. Many students collaborate with producers that make the prototypes, but Ringqvist made it all by herself. Impressive.
Plates by Emilia Lamberg made tableware that is easier to hold, also for those physically challanged. Inclusion is important. Nice looking and finished products.
Room dividers in glass and mirrors. Jenny Svensén. Shiny and nice. I am not so convinced that the material is good for a project like this, but as sculptures they are quite nice.
Max Lunden Jansson made furniture out of wood for healing properties. It is really sculptural and nice but also, as we say in Swedish “gå över ån efter vatten”. Wood might hold qualities that make you healthier, but why use it for a hard bed?? Still nice.
I think my second most impressive work was this digital piggy bank. It is an interactive tool to teach kids to handle money. Digital money and also physical. Do a chore and get digital reward. By Elinor Parra.
A chair with huge focus on functionality. This is a chair for women who have vulvar pain. I can not try it and see if works but the chair looks nice. Maybe a bit boxy but perhaps this could be part of the visual experience. You should trust it and relax when sitting in it. By Elin Åkerfeldt.
Carl Folkesson did something hyper trendy. He worked on the concept hyper local. He looked at industry waste from a number of factories in Gnosjö and took the waste and upcycled it. Not really new, but very contemporary. I sometime wish that projects like these could suprise me more. What if he would make food containers or hangers for a wardrobe? Now, as almost always a vase, a chair, a small table and a candleholder. Why not shoehorn? Or a toaster?
The project I spent most time with was this. The project is called “If I place the keys on the table, my Mum will die”. It is about superstition and mental illness. Some superstition holds bad luck. Like walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror. And sometimes this can become a fixation for someone with mental disorder. If you walk under a ladder – something bad will really, really happen. Like your mum will die.
This keychain is a normal keychain for your bag or trousers. But you can have it standing so the keys don’t touch the table. Therefore avoiding killing your mother.
But it is also a small symbol for others. The person feeling this fixation can easily feel stigma too. Being afraid of talking about this challange.
A simple innovation for not having your keys touch the table – and a small symbol to others saying “hey, I am vulnerable”.
Super cute. Perhaps this small object is the most innovative of the whole class of 2023 from all design schools?
By Fanny Johansson.