Sweden today announces the opening of Sweden’s First Virtual Design Museum, also its first design museum focusing on both architecture, design and fashion. The first exhibition, “Live from Sweden”, offers visitors a glimpse into the Swedish lifestyle and the design objects Swedes surround themselves with.
Design and creativity is of huge importance socially, culturally and aesthetically to Sweden, and has a deep connection to the country’s progressive values since it is driven by the idea of equality for all. In Sweden, design is seen as a tool to solve problems in unexpected ways and challenge the status quo to create a better life for everyone.
The Swedish Design Museum is not your typical museum – it has no physical collection, and it’s a virtual museum with the purpose of making Swedish design accessible and visible to people in all corners of the world. Available at www.swedishdesignmuseum.com , the first exhibition called ” Live from Sweden ” includes eight design objects – shown through live streaming and video online – giving visitors the chance to catch a glimpse of Swedish life and the design objects Swedes surround themselves with.
“Design is important to the international travelers and is something they are curious about in relation to Sweden. The aim of the Swedish Design Museum is to exhibit design objects that have a deeper purpose than merely good looks. The exhibition “Live from Sweden” lets visitors catch a glimpse of Swedish design objects where they are being used by ordinary Swedes as part of their everyday life. Objects that are made to be used, and used again – not put on a pedestal or locked behind glass,” said Jennie Skogsborn Missuna, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Visit Sweden.
“ Live from Sweden ” features eight design objects within the fields of Architecture , Design and Fashion . These objects are:
Architecture
- Strandparken – a carbon-negative eight-floor timber apartment building, by Folkhem and Wingårdhs architects
- Kaggeboda – a Swedish “Attefall’s house”, built according to regulations making it easier for Swedes to realize the dream of a weekend/vacation residence, by Kolman Boye Architects in collaboration with architect Tove Fogelström
Design
- OD-11 – a wireless multi-room loudspeaker, high quality sound for everyone, by Teenage Engineering
- Plug Lamp – a lamp with a built-in electrical socket, by Form Us With Love
- Thule Glide – a high performance sports stroller, by Thule in partnership with Veryday
- One Happy Cloud – a bowl with an in-fold on the inside rim to serve as support to grip food like noodles with your chopsticks, by Ingegerd Råman
Fashion
- Changes – a unisex collection with labels including both women’s and men’s sizes, by Hope – Sthlm
- Reflexive bag – a collection that made visibility fashionable, from “Watch Your Back” collection by Ann – Sofi Back
The objects included in the Swedish Design Museum’s first exhibition “Live from Sweden” have been chosen in collaboration with the following curators, design and fashion experts:
- Emma Jonsteg , Architect and founder of Utopia Arkitekter.
- Susanna Strömquist , freelance fashion journalist and contributing editor to Elle Sweden and DN.
- Eero Koivisto , Designer and co-founder of a Swedish architectural partnership and multi-disciplinary design firm Claesson Koivisto Rune .
- Daniel Golling , Journalist and co-founder of Summit , an independent architecture and design initiative.
- Gustaf Kjellin , Curator and co-founder of Summit , an independent architecture and design initiative.
Eero Koivisto , designer at Claesson Koivisto Rune , an internationally acclaimed multi-disciplinary office with an equal emphasis on both architecture and design, and one of the design experts involved in choosing the objects shown in the first exhibition said:
“The whole idea of design in the North is that it’s inclusive – not exclusive – which makes it important to show how it’s used. And that’s where the ordinary people come into the picture. That’s who we work for.”
“An online museum can be visited by anybody, anywhere who have access to the internet. I find that idea very attractive. We are a small corner of the world, still with a very high international reputation in Architecture and Design. So it feels good to share and show this in an online museum”, he continued.
Emma Jonsteg , architect at Utopia Arkitekter , and one of the design experts involved in choosing objects for the Swedish Design Museum:
“There is a lot of interesting and high quality design produced in Sweden. I think the world has a lot to learn from looking at the very best stuff produced here, and the Swedish Design Museum makes it easily accessible to everyone, everywhere”, she concludes.
The Swedish Design Museum is launched on the 14th of November, and live streams of three objects included in the first exhibition will be conducted throughout the day on Wednesday 15 th of November, live on Visit Sweden’s Facebook-page . The next exhibition is planned to open in 2018. Visit Sweden, the Swedish tourist organization is the initiator of The Swedish Design Museum. A virtual museum with the purpose of making Swedish design accessible and visible to people in all corners of the world.
For further information about design objects included in the Swedish Design Museum, visit www.swedishdesignmuseum.com