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September 6 to October 26, 2007

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DESIGN "S": Art of Beneficial Design
Contemporary Design from Sweden

Celebrating Triangle’s Year of Design
Presented in Calgary by Svensk Form in Partnership with the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts for 2007 ArtCity - Calgary International Festival of Visual Arts, Architecture & Design

Comfort-Simplicity-Elegance:
Contemporary Design from Sweden

Ava Table – designed in 2006 by Märta Friman for Materia Klaessons AB. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.For over seven decades modern Swedish design has been acclaimed internationally by art critics, collected by leading musea, and enjoyed by an astonishingly large international audience. The democratic Swedish approach, an historical peculiarity that has developed over decades of political freedom and financial independence, drew designers’ attention automatically to the objects of everyday life and to the home as the focal point of the society. To that end, Swedish designers concentrated on creating affordable modernism for every household, striving to demonstrate to the world their interpretation of good, logical design with objects that are thoughtful, sparing, timeless, staunchly useful, environmentally conscious, and economical. 

Pinc House – designed in 2006 by Maria Rutensköld, Jan Rutensköld and Johan Lionell for Pinc House AB. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.Organized by Svensk Form (the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design), the world’s oldest design organization, and curated by Annika Enqvist, Cathrine von Hauswolff and Karin-Axelina Lindqvist, Design “S”: Art of Beneficial Design  showcases all 30 nominated and winning entries to the Swedish Design Award. The exhibition is unique in describing the process behind the design products and its presentation by adopting in a clever way the shipping crates into the exhibition modules for each product design.

Woodeye – designed in 2006 by Björn-Åke Sköld Design for Innovativ Vision AB. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.Svensk Form, Sveriges Reklamförbund (the Advertising Association of Sweden) and Stiftelsen Svensk Industridesign (the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation) have been the joint initiators and collaborators of the Swedish Design Award. Their main aim was to create an attractive and topical award which singles out and rewards the best individual designers, design studios and the companies that have significantly contributed to today’s creative, innovative and positive development of the design industry.

Design S not only presents a wide gamut of the objects designed for every-day life by eminent contemporary Swedish designers and design firms, but also reflects the principal philosophy of Swedish design: the endeavor to enhance quality of life through efficient and affordable technology. The objects presented in this exhibition are not so much objects d’art but the products designed to support this principal philosophy of Swedish design with its universal functionality in mind, and to give expression to the notion that ‘good design’ enables freedom.

Jacek Malec
Director/Curator
Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts

Forest – designed in 2006 by Katrin Greiling for Offect. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden. Innovation “C” Chairs – designed in 2006 by Fredrik Mattson for Blå Station. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.
Pronto (message/communication holder) – designed in 2006 by Anya Sebton for Abstracta. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden. Inset TM for Diabetics – designed in 2006 by Epsilon for Unomedical a/s. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.
Fragment of the installation of the exhibition “Design S: Art of Beneficial Design”. Of interest are the shipping crates converted into the exhibition modules for each product design. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden. Fragment of the installation of the exhibition “Design S: Art of Beneficial Design”. Of interest are the shipping crates converted into the exhibition modules for each product design. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

List of Images (left to right, top to bottom):

  1. Ava Table – designed in 2006 by Märta Friman for Materia Klaessons AB. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  2. Pinc House – designed in 2006 by Maria Rutensköld, Jan Rutensköld and Johan Lionell for Pinc House AB. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  3. Woodeye – designed in 2006 by Björn-Åke Sköld Design for Innovativ Vision AB. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  4. Forest – designed in 2006 by Katrin Greiling for Offect. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  5. Innovation “C” Chairs – designed in 2006 by Fredrik Mattson for Blå Station. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  6. Pronto (message/communication holder) – designed in 2006 by Anya Sebton for Abstracta. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  7. Inset TM for Diabetics – designed in 2006 by Epsilon for Unomedical a/s. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  8. Fragment of the installation of the exhibition “Design S: Art of Beneficial Design”. Of interest are the shipping crates converted into the exhibition modules for each product design. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.

  9. Fragment of the installation of the exhibition “Design S: Art of Beneficial Design”. Of interest are the shipping crates converted into the exhibition modules for each product design. Photo courtesy of Svensk Form, Stockholm, Sweden.
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