New challenges in the present are changing the conditions for the furniture industry. Nola has long worked towards both social and environmental sustainability and at this year’s edition of the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, the latest steps in the work towards a better future are being presented. With forest as the theme, Nola wants to show its positive impact on us as people, and a change towards a sustainable society.

Nola ♥ Forest

For this year’s furniture fair, Nola has started with the forest and continued to work on ideas about the outdoor offices and waiting environments of the future and a focus on healthy, sustainable cities. Ideas that are also based on what schools and areas for physical activity should look like, and the increasingly green roofs and roof terraces in cities.

“We chose to link Nola with the forest, based on old Swedish dialect where the word “nolaskogs” roughly means beyond the forest,” says Malin Moreau, Creative Director at Nola. “We wanted to connect to the sources from where we obtain our raw material. After all, many of our products mostly consist of Swedish wood.”

40 years of Nola

“Our clear focus on imagination, innovation and design is stronger and more important than ever before”, says Agneta Stake, founder and owner of Nola for 40 years. “But, at the same time, the environment and sustainability must permeate the entire design process.”

“To meet the future together with my daughters in the company and with our new managing director Henrik Edlund, feels both fun and exciting,” Agneta continues.

Presentation of projects in the present

This year, Nola is presenting, among other things, collaboration with Note Design Studio, Kristoffer Fagerström and Gunilla Allard where they have developed a new backed bench, Sigill. The sofa is Nola’s contribution to the architecture competition for new furniture for Skogskyrkogården, a world heritage cemetery in Stockholm.

Please, wait…

Nola will also show the first part of the new sustainable furniture series Wait, developed in collaboration with White Design. With Wait – that for some time had the working name ‘Vänta lite nu!’ (Wait a bit now!) “Nola wants to emphasise the importance of producing new furniture that will find its place in a life-cycle perspective.

A crucial starting point when developing the products for this year’s fair has been to focus on the social, functional and environmental requirements that are specified nowadays when procuring furniture for public environments.

“We must all stop and think about the importance of sustainability and circular thinking, where furniture production is also based on social responsibility and good working conditions,” says Henrik Edlund, Managing Director. “A sustainable production process, with material selection that ensures the life span of the furniture, is a prerequisite for our products to maintain environmental quality and design in terms of quality,” concludes Henrik.