Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

DESIGN

Four Swedish home design trends for spring

Swedish interiors are world famous and this weekend the largest design fair in the Nordics, Formex, is taking place in Stockholm. Interior Designer and blogger Angeline Eriksson has had a preview of the top home trends it is showcasing in 2015.

Published: 15 January 2015 22:35 CET
Four Swedish home design trends for spring
The Formex design show in Stockholm. Photo: TT
Nordic and Neat are the two buzz words you need to know in 2015.
 
“During restless times of war and health epidemics around the world, we have a need to make our home a place where we can feel secure. Everything has its place without being boring or impersonal,” explains Formex's event manager Christina Olsson.
 
But while Nordic Neat appears to be the most popular trend, there is also a heavy influence of bold, refreshing colours that is not typically associated with Scandinavian design, and an overall feeling of cheerful 1950s optimism.
 
Materials are a key focus as sustainability is no longer a futuristic concept but a reality of our times. Traditional Nordic handicrafts are re-imagined using new techniques and colour.
 
These ideas are realised in three other trends: Nordic Essence, Nordic Motion and Nordic Folk. Here are a few examples of each future fashion.
 
Nordic Neat
 
Nordic Neat is the desire to create order and clarity, to sort, to study and to celebrate the ordinary in new and exciting ways. Contrasting colours are common, with welcoming red and turquoise paired with cream, beige and brown.
 
Linda Brattlöf of design house Garden Glory for example has taken a household item – a water hose – and made it clean, fresh and chic.
 
Colour choices range from 'white snake' to 'gold digger', with 'Caribbean Kiss' the new turquoise shade for 2015. Linda Brattlöff is a rebel who has refused to accept ugly as an option and turned an eyesore into the talk of any garden party. When asked about her designs she proudly states: “Yes I'm reinventing the wheel. And don't we need it!”
 
Also on show at Formex 2015 are her chic mailboxes that look like Chanel clutches.
 

Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova
 
Nordic Essence

Nordic Essence is about designers doing new things with new building materials –  dealing with waste from other industries, reworking them and creating something new.

Patrick lu, a product and interaction designer and Mattias Chrisander, a product designer and furniture maker, have teamed their collective education and experience to launch Mùk.

“Mùk is Cantonese for wood”, explains lu, who has Chinese heritage but was born and raised in Sweden. Mùk takes the waste of building materials and moulds them into various shapes, in the fashion of paper mache.

“We're always thinking of fun ways to use materials”, says lu.

At Formex, the Mùk team is showcasing 'Fiber', a multifunctional lamp made of either fiberglass waste or discarded sawdust, with an adhesive used in the muolding process. Using either a notch or leather strap, Fiber can be hung or attached to shelving. It can be laid on its side, set upright from the shade or used as a flashlight.

“But our favorite thing about Fiber is the simple, clean design,” states Chrisander.


Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova

Nordic Motion

Nordic Motion is about creativity and humour. Inspired by Sweden's sporty lifestyle, it looks at clever solutions for newer materials with sharp accents and bright, bright, bright colours. 

With over 100 years of design experience, the Eva Solo Company knows a few things about kitchen design. Launched in Denmark in 2014, the appropriately named 'Citrus Press', looks at a design challenge that has been attempted by many. Eva Solo believes that they have perfected it. In the shape of a lemon, the exterior is silicone for a firm grip and the interior nylon for easy cleaning.

The design ensures that Citrus Press always sits upright. The pips are retained by a rim, which allows the juice to flow through small grooves.

“It's about making life easier in the kitchen,” explains spokesperson Ulrika Ulrika Görefält.


Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova

Nordic Folk

Sweden is steeped in tradition and there is barely a Nordic design show without handicraft-inspired work on offer. The trend this year is traditional meets super modern. Designers borrow from the past to create exciting new designs full of colour and creativity. 

One example is the work of Swedish graphic designer My Floryd Welin, who launched My Floryd Welin in 2012. Welin borrows some of her graphics from traditional hand painted Dalarna horses and from Swedish traditions like Midsommar, blueberries and lingonberries, painting them on kitchen stools, serving trays, coasters, napkins and ceramic coffee and tea sets.

Her work has a prominent 1950s vibe and Welin says she's also deeply inspired by “fika”, the Swedish coffee break ritual.


Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova

For members

PROPERTY

Should you buy a home in Sweden this summer?

Considering the fickle trends in the Swedish housing market, prospective homebuyers might find themselves at a crossroads this summer.

Published: 4 July 2024 14:41 CEST
Should you buy a home in Sweden this summer?

After a period of falling prices driven by increased interest rates, the Swedish housing market is seeing a rebound, particularly in the biggest cities.

However, it’s also taking longer to finalise home sales.

READ MORE:

Recent data from Swedish property listings site Hemnet indicates that while home sales – and housing prices – are on the rise, the time to complete transactions has notably increased.

For instance, the average sale time for an apartment in Sweden increased to 27 days in the first half of the year, up from 22 days during the same period last year. Similarly, houses now take an average of 31 days to sell, compared to 30 days previously.

The slowest market is in the Gävleborg region, where it takes an average of 44 days to sell a home. The fastest transactions occur in Stockholm, with apartments selling in just 16 days and detached homes in 23 days.

This variation in market activity across the country calls for a deeper look into where the best opportunities might lie for homebuyers this summer.

Renewed market confidence in Sweden’s biggest cities

The confidence in the Swedish property market is on its way up in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, Erik Holmberg, a market analyst at Hemnet, told The Local.

“I would say that we have seen a weaker market in the last couple of years, almost everywhere in the country, since the Swedish central bank started to increase the interest policy rate, which affected the market a lot,” he said.

“But in the last half of the year or rather in the last year, the confidence has come back in bigger cities – in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö… When we look at price developments last year, in three of Sweden’s biggest cities, we see prices increasing again.”

However, the analyst warned that the opposite is currently true in other areas of the country, which have seen a continued decrease in market activity and flatter developments in the same time interval.

A new trend emerging in Stockholm?

As Hemnet’s analyst explained, in Sweden, housing market trends usually start in Stockholm, when the market begins to change, causing a ripple effect.

“And that’s what we have seen. Now, market activity and prices are increasing again in the bigger cities. Usually, when the market changes, other areas in the country follow, and that could be the case now,” said Holmberg.

“When the rates and inflation situation become clearer, other parts of the country might follow the market in the big cities. Our main scenario is that we will see this spread,” he said, adding that prices in Stockholm have picked up quite fast in the last year but that the demand is still affected by the high interest rates.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw swift price developments in some areas with the highest demand, such as city centres.”

The effect on the rental market

Another aspect to consider is the rental market, which could see significant changes in the short to mid-term.

Holmberg pointed out that properties which fail to sell might enter the rental market.

“What we’ve seen is that it’s harder to sell properties today, so, probably, more people who own homes and can’t sell them will put these unsold homes on the market for a while. This could affect the supply of apartments for rent and, in turn, prices,” the analyst said.

INTERVIEW:

What different types of homebuyers should know

For buyers, the current market presents a mixed bag.

“In Sweden, we often talk of having a seller’s or buyer’s market. Today, it’s good for buyers that they have a lot to choose from; there’s a record-high supply almost everywhere in the country. That means it’s easy to find something,” said Holmberg.

However, he also cautioned that the slow market makes agreeing on terms with sellers challenging, with sales times at record highs.

“Sales take some time in today’s market, and that’s important to understand for both sellers and buyers, especially for homeowners who are changing homes, meaning they’re both buying and selling something; it’s a tough market for them.

“Today, this group often chooses to sell their home before they buy something new. That makes up a big part of record high sales times; we have people waiting for the right bid before moving from the selling to the buying side…” Holmberg said, noting that the market is different compared to two to three years ago when it was “very hot”.

“So, remember that even if prices grow, it’s still a tough or slow market.”

READ MORE:

On the other hand, first-time buyers might find a silver lining in the form of lower prices compared to a couple of years ago, making it a potentially favourable time to enter the Swedish housing market.

“First-time buyers are in another situation, which may be better because the prices are lower than two years ago, of course, and if you’re just buying something, you don’t need to worry about the selling part,” Holmberg told The Local.

“That’s why this could be a good situation to enter the housing market this summer, but even so, despite supply being really high, it could still be tough because many sellers have put down a listed price but don’t necessarily plan to sell at this price.”

SHOW COMMENTS