'Älvsjö gård' at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025 brings whimsy to Scandinavian design

Among the showcases at the ongoing Stockholm Furniture Fair are specimens of innovations in furniture design. The annual design fair, taking place in Stockholm, Sweden, from February 4 – 8, 2025, comprises a showcase of intuitive and experimental designs that are at once inspirational and revitalising while also serving as the harbingers of novel trends. Among the several discursive presentations at the design event is Älvsjö gård, a design exhibition that platforms experimental and limited-edition pieces by designers and makers moving between small-scale work and industrial design. First showcased as part of Stockholm Design Week in 2023, the show is named after the eponymous 15th-century manor house located next to the fairgrounds. It started as an annual initiative hinged on offering broader perspectives on design and helping connect the creative community with artistry.

Yearly, Älvsjö gård presents works by a curated selection of designers, makers and independent artists. Its 2025 edition platforms 14 upcoming creatives, namely Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng, David Taylor, Jenny Nordberg, Jonas Lutz, Niklas Runesson, Simon Mattisson, Simon Skinner, Eero Moss, Vanders Studio, Erik Bratsberg, Staffan Holm, Studio Matti Carlson, Mia Cullin and Jon Buck. Curated by Hanna Nova Beatrice from The New Era Magazine, this year's showcase includes pieces inspired by different ideas and made employing disparate processes. "Älvsjö gård mirrors how many designers work today, moving fluidly between craft, small-scale work and industry. It offers visitors a broader scope for their projects," Beatrice shares.

Oslo-based designer Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng, known for creating art furniture by hand, brings organically shaped shelves to the fair. Her pieces demonstrate the potential of crafts-based design. Scotland-born David Taylor, a multifaceted craftsman who resides in the Swedish countryside and experiments with aluminium, presents an atypically construed digital clock at the design event. Made out of aluminium, the clock also features as a statement piece. Multidisciplinary designer Jenny Nordberg, who imbues her product designs with a brutalist imprint and hints of humour, showcases a collection of furniture and objects assembled from discarded office equipment parts.

Jonas Lutz, a Finland-born and Rotterdam-based designer and cabinetmaker, creates minimalist pieces defined by bold shapes and forms. At the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025, Lutz presents undulating wooden furniture that at once grasps and sustains one's attention. Niklas Runesson, a self-taught artist, designer and carpenter who deals with the creation of sculptural furniture, complements Lutz's showcase with curvy wooden furniture. These include a dining table and chairs, a mirror and a centre table. Another experimentation in wood presented as part of Älvsjö gård is conceived by the studio Eero Moss. The Romanian design studio creates a limited series of sculptural works. The final form of these pieces is determined by the studio's creative process and material availability.

Stockholm-based designer Simon Mattisson presents his series Animism at the furniture design fair. This collection comprises several functional 3D printed sculptures that are congruous with the designer's previous work. Artist and designer Simon Skinner, on the other hand, presents glass lamps and upholstered seating that demonstrate both the value of melding craftsmanship and commercial production.

South Germany-based Andreas Völkl, founder of Vanders Studio, presents the Milano Centrale sofa (created in collaboration with Alexander Lervik Studio) and Feru sideboard at the fair. While the former is a limited edition design with eight copies, the latter emulates the studio's interpretation of two major influences—German precision and Scandinavian elegance. A combination of geometric elements that exemplifies German precision and sleek design that evokes the approachable aesthetics of Scandinavian design, Feru features rhythmically arranged ash feathers that create an interplay of light and shadow, giving it a lightweight and floating quality.

The exhibition also features a curated section hosting works by Erik Bratsberg, Staffan Holm, Matti Carlson, Mia Cullin and Jon Buck. In this section, Bratsberg's walnut and mappa burl CabinEtt, Holm and Carlson's Tonewood, Cullin's stools and Buck's animated furniture come together.

The stylistically, chromatically and materially divergent curation of furniture and objects at the exhibition exemplifies the potential of playing with forms and shapes while still sustaining the overarching Scandinavian aesthetic.

‘Älvsjö gård’ takes place from February 4 – 8, 2025, inside Hall A at the Stockholm Furniture Fair.