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Fi abstracts urban architectonics in a Stockholm Furniture Fair showcase
The Beautifulcity collection is on display at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025
Image: Alfredo J Martiz J
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Fi abstracts urban architectonics in a Stockholm Furniture Fair showcase

The Beautifulcity collection by Sofia Alvarado's design studio Fi, comprises 17 pieces wherein disparate architectural elements are congruously melded to yield collectible art.

by Almas Sadique
Published on : Feb 04, 2025

At the ongoing Stockholm Furniture Fair in Stockholm, Sweden, a series of showcases platform innovative designs that subsist the evolution of Scandinavian design. Running from February 4 - 8, 2025, this design event distinctly platforms furniture designers, product designers and lighting designers as well as Scandinavian design brands. Stockholm Furniture Fair serves as both, the harbinger of minimalist designs that integrate extant technological improvements and innovations that incorporate sustainability and circularity in their process and final outcomes.

Among the design exhibitions delineated during the Stockholm Furniture Fair is Beautifulcity, a showcase of collectible sculptures conceived by Sofia Alvarado, an architect, designer and ornamental artist based in Panama, in Central America. Alvarado, founder of the art and design studio Fi, dabbles in furniture design, product design, scenography, sculptural art, drawing, painting and writing. The interdisciplinary creative derives her inspiration from "life, nature, the precision of imperfection, history, architecture, dreams, time and everything that educates beyond reason grant".

Known for experimenting with shapes, materials, colours and geometries to express imagined realities and daily observations via tangible designs, Alvarado conceived the Beautifulcity collection as an ode to architectural details. With this collection, the various disciplines that Alvarado engages in, converge. From bearing the imprints of structural systems and architectural elements to the reference of miniaturism and the illusory impression of utility, Beautifulcity manages to meld architecture, art and design.

With the homogenisation of architecture across the globe as well as the disappearance of specialised professions that earlier helped imbue distinct character into the built environment and are currently designated as obsolete skills, an appreciation for disparate craftsmanship prowess has dwindled. By expressing her observations via what Alvarado refers to as "anti-industrial miniaturism" in the Beautifulcity collection, the American artist seeks to channel an appreciation for artisanal work.

Standing like miniature models of larger infrastructures, the Beautifulcity collectible design series comprises 17 pieces that are devoid of any obvious utilitarianism. Instead, the subtly hued pieces are the culmination of a formal architectural exploration. Abstracting real elements found in a city, Alvarado seeks to invite an appreciation for these architectural details that are typically overlooked by the city's residents. In their miniature forms, these details appear like small jewels from an imaginary city.

Just like an evolving city is defined by buildings from different periods and consequently, different styles, scales and purposes, Alvarado's Beautifulcity, too, is a mixture of architectural elements pertaining to disparate references in an urban environment. The individual pieces are made using different manufacturing methods. While some pieces employ artisanal patterns and making, others are created via moulds and with the usage of homemade tools. The result is a set of 17 objects that are defined by distinct folds and turns, yet stylistically integrated by the usage of abstract geometric forms and subtle hues.

"This way of building to measure, where artisanal work is valued and quality prevails over quantity, marks a revolution in the region to recover in an organic and human way the luxury artisanal confection for art and design," Alvarado shares in an official release. By drawing focus towards oft-missed architectural elements in the city and towards artisanal methods that are fading away, Alvarado seeks to ignite an appreciation for skills and styles that beautify and imbue a certain originality to design and architecture.

The exhibition 'Beautifulcity' at the Stockholm Furniture Fair is on view from February 4 - 8, 2025, in Stockholm, Sweden.

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