The Stockholm Furniture Fair is gaining international prominence. This year’s February event hosted almost 41,000 visitors from around the world and served as a launch pad for the Nordic countries’ most prestigious manufacturers, such as Swedese and fjordfiesta. For more evidence of the event’s global stature, the goods on display this year defied the “Scandinavian Modern” stereotypes of clean lines and natural materials. - David Sokol
 

Imported Talent
Many foreign designers received commissions from large manufacturers or came to peddle their own wares, demonstrating that Scandinavian inspiration is easily adapted to the world stage.

Pick-up sticks
The ItoMaki table, designed by Swedish-born, Japanese-trained Dan Sunaga, features an inventive expandable base. When pushed inward to achieve the diameter of a side table, this web of interlocking wood pieces also rises to the appropriate height; pulled outward, it widens and lowers to coffee-table dimensions. Karl Andersson & Söner, Huskvarna, Sweden. www.karl-andersson.se

[Reader Service: May 2007 #202]
 

Can you hear me now?
The Sticks felt-covered panels were designed by Jean-Marie Massaud as part of the Soundwave series of acoustical buffers. All Soundwave products are designed to absorb light, high-frequency noise at 500 Hz and above. Offecct, Tibro, Sweden. www.offecct.se

[Reader Service: May 2007 #201]
 

La Chapelle’s show
The table base of the La Chapelle Big dining table by Parisian Inga Sempé features an abstracted trumpet form comprising thin steel ribbons inserted into a plywood ring, and shoulders a lacquered oval top. David design, Malmö, Sweden. www.david.se

[Reader Service: May 2007 #204]
     

Fits like a glove
Brits Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby went haute couture with Glove, a felt easy chair that features a wristlike tapered base and a fabric or sheepskin trim. Swedese Möbler, Vaggeryd, Sweden. www.swedese.com

[Reader Service: May 2007 #203]

Tactile tambourines
Japanese textile/ fashion designer Akira Minagawa is known for his minä perhonen clothing line, which he says is not tied to fashion cycles. For Kvadrat, he created Tambourine, a pattern with rows of circles embroidered on upholstery fabric. Kvadrat, Ebeltoft, Denmark. www.kvadrat.dk

[Reader Service: May 2007 #205]

Child’s play
The Antropomorfo seating group by Danish designer Stine Gam and Italian designer Enrice Fratesi realizes a child’s out-of-proportion drawings of furniture in a combination of oak, beech, and walnut covered in felt. GAMplusFRATESI, Pesaro, Italy. www.gamplusfratesi.com

[Reader Service: May 2007 #206]