Sweden is back in Milan with HEMMA gone wild
For most Swedes, the idea of HEMMA (HOME) is closely linked to a strong connection with nature. While this relationship is often romantic, nature can also be something threatening. What happens when it takes over? Swedish Design Moves returns to Milan Design Week this year with HEMMA gone wild– a sequel to the 2018 exhibition, HEMMA – Stories of Home.
Curated and designed by Joyn Studio, HEMMA gone wild invites visitors to experience an abstract and playful vision of home, from hallway to living room and onwards through an unfolding scenography that showcases the best of Swedish design, drawn by curiosity and a mood of mystery.
Home is a place of refuge and security – but it can also be a place from which to escape. HEMMA gone wild explores the complex relationship that we have with home and the influences of both nature and technology as they shape our experience of living and our connectedness with the changing world around us.
Just as a home is a reflection of a personality, all of the pieces within the exhibition have been selected for what they have to tell us and positioned with careful consideration to how they speak to each other.
Among the pieces shown are a number of the 82 new objects created for the Nationalmuseum’s NM& Collection – a unique collaboration between 32 Swedish designers and 20 manufacturers, unveiled late last year. These include the Curve lamp for the museum’s library designed by Front and produced by Zero, Sand dinnerware designed by Carina Seth Andersson in collaboration with Design House Stockholm, the Ateljé dining table designed by Matti Klenell (artistic director of the NM& project) and produced by Gärsnäs, and the Botero chair, also designed by Matti Klenell in collaboration with Peter Andersson and produced by Källemo. Other featured designers include Monica Förster, one of Sweden’s most acclaimed designers who is represented here with her Retreat sofa for Fogia, which also brings pieces by TAF Studio and Main to Milan this year, and fashion designer Lars Nilsson who has collaborated with Vandra Rugs on a number of projects including Snö & Kol which brings Vandra Rugs to exhibit at Milan Design Week this year for the first time.
Sustainability is a driving influence for Sweden’s designers and manufacturers. Two leading design brands to highlight in this regard are Bolon, which launched in 1949 with rugs produced from textile waste and today uses 33% recycled materials in its flooring products, and acoustic product producer Baux, which was founded on the belief that building materials should be sustainable, surprisingly functional and remarkably beautiful.
In addition to these designers and brands, the breadth of design talent across furniture and lighting will be represented by established design brands Asplund, Blå Station, Gemla, and Tre Sekel and some of the country’s newest studios and brands: Massproductions, Myltha, Pholc and Studio Mia Cullin.
Bringing Swedish design to every element of the home, other brands exhibited include Electrolux, office design brands EFG and Ogeborg, bathroom specialists Westerbergs, urban design company Nola and wood-fired bathtub manufacturer Hikki.
Emerging talents throughout HEMMA gone wild will be accentuated by the inclusion of the work of students of Beckmans College of Design and HDK Academy of Design and Crafts and the winners of the Swedish national award for young designers (Ung Svensk Form), many of whom will show graduation and prototype projects. As well as works supported by Design by Umeå’s eXpression incubator.
HEMMA gone wild is an exhibition of contrasts – of colour, light, material and sound, and also of feeling.
Bring your curiosity and join us to experience HEMMA gone wild at this year’s Milan Design Week!
Address Via Solferino, 15, Brera Design District. Access via: Bus 43,61,94, MM2 Moscova, MM3 Turati
Opening hours 9-14 April, 9.30-19
Press preview Monday 8 April 14-19
Daily “fika” for press 9-12 April 10-11.30
Opening cocktail Tuesday 9 April 19-22, co-hosted by Stockholm Design Week, Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, Stockholms Auktionsverk and Lauritz.com