The rhythm of Stockholm Furniture Fair is given as much by the greetings ringing through the venue as by the layout of the halls or by the products on show; wherever one goes the background to everything is the sound of a simple, but potent, galvanising, word, concept, conveyed and returned....... But it's been a while since we were last exposed to the joyous rhythm of Stockholm Furniture Fair. Or indeed to the rhythm of any furniture fair: the last fair we visited was, as it transpired, Stockholm in February 2020, just before, well... you know....... and in that intervening three years we've spent a lot of time thinking about if we ever would, ever should, venture to another furniture fair.
For even before Corona we were becoming increasingly tired of the furniture fair format, had on innumerable occasions sworn we would never, ever, set feet in a furniture fair ever again; before, in that resolute manner of ours, we would pack our bags and head off to another furniture fair. We once voluntarily visited eight in a year!!! While not wanting to visit any!!!1
For a great many years Twisterella by Ride was our ongoing earworm:
"If I don't need anymore, Why's this bus taking me back again"
But after a Corona enforced absence, were we now finally, finally, over furniture fairs?
Had we finally got off the bus?
???
We weren't sure. We believed we genuinely were, believed we genuinely had, but... you know how it is.......
So by way of trying to work out where we really were at, we thought we'd better try again; and it seemed to make perfect sense to begin that process of discovery where that process of questioning had so abruptly ended, by once again saying Hej! to Stockholm Furniture Fair.......
Perhaps by way of an introduction, a couple of quick notes on why we were tiring of, tired of, furniture fairs.
On the one hand there was was the general lack of anything interesting, only very rarely were we meeting objects that genuinely caught our imaginations, objects with which we actually wanted to engage with rather than feeling obliged to engage with out of politeness; and were convinced the positive moments were becoming ever rarer. The greater part our time at any given fair being spent bored and disengaged. Why were we there?
On the other hand there was the increasing unease at the environmental footprints of furniture fairs: both our own footprint, and that large, deep, permanent, depression, left on our collective climate by the immeasurable tons of furniture, lighting and textiles shipped collective millions of kilometres to be shown off for a couple of days, the shipped back again; the stands themselves often representing not only vast amounts of materials and resources taken from others for a few days of commerce, but also the material and resource usage in the conception, design and modelling on the way to the finalised stand; similarly the rainforests of publicity material designed, printed, handed out and thrown away unread; and then all the people, all the manufacturers employees, all the journalists, all the PRs, all the guest speakers, all the trade visitors of various hues travelling cumulative millions of kilometres. Not to mention the water, electricity and gas demand of trade fair halls, which are essentially just massive, resource annihilating, voids. And for what?
On the rare third hand there was the general questioning of the validity of the furniture fair as we move ever further into the 21st century; as with, for example, the private car, or coal, or postage stamps, is the furniture fair, we increasingly asked ourselves, not something that once served an important function, helped society develop, was indispensable, but whose time is now up? And for all, are furniture fairs not now doing more harm than good in context of the development and supply and design of furniture? And did we want to be part of that? Did we want to contribute to the validating of a dangerous, harmful, anachronism? If that's what they are.
And slowly over time such, and similar, considerations built up within us as an increasingly critical questioning of not only why we went to furniture fairs, but why furniture fairs.
Yet still we got on the bus.
Then came Covid.
And fairs (more or less) stopped. Certainly became much more complicated.
And then came Stockholm 2023.
¿And how was it?
Very odd at first. Very odd.
We genuinely spent the first three quarters of the first day trying to locate ourselves, trying to find a way in, not physically in, we found that relatively quickly, it's where it's always been; but trying to find a way in mentally, conceptually, contextually.
An orientationlessness caused partly by the fact that after three inoperative years our furniture fair sensors and antennae needed to be dusted off and warmed up; caused partly by a complete lack of adrenalin, a, as it turns out, very important component in our furniture fair experience, no honest. And caused partly by the decision we'd made before arriving in Stockholm to ditch the High Five! format that for many years had been our main post from any given furniture fair; somehow it didn't seem appropriate to pick up where we'd left off, after three years a change must have come. And that not least because before Covid we'd grown increasingly uneasy with the idea of listing a fixed number of objects as somehow being the highlights of the fair, implying that they were somehow better, more worthy of mention than others. Which they weren't necessarily. And had become increasingly uneasy about reducing our experiences at any given fair to a pre-defined number of objects. Which it never is, nor can be, any furniture fair is the sum of all the conversations one has, the positive and negative, the entertaining and the tiresome. And so we needed a new format for posting from furniture fairs, assuming that is we were going to return to furniture fairs, but certainly needed one for Stockholm, and thus had brainstormed a few possibilities before leaving for Sweden. Formats which on that first day we then sought to initiate.
Failed miserably.
Utterly.
No matter which format we tested, we failed to view the exhibited works with the necessary eyes.
And the more we tried to find the necessary eyes, the more we altered our perspective on viewing the fair, the more we failed, so the more we not only struggled to find a way into the fair, but the more we also came to the, for us, startling conclusion that furniture fairs are essentially not for the likes of us.
They're not. And probably never were.
Furniture fairs are for furniture retailers looking for products they think will sell; are for architects and interior designers looking for objects for projects, current or future, and similarly are for professional facility managers looking for objects for the spaces for which they are responsible, be that immediately or in context of a coming re-design; are for social media professionals looking for photos by which to explain perceived, marketed, t****s, and/or to extol the virtues of a new object a PR has told them is brilliant and/or to continue the poisonous objectification of furniture: or put another way, trade fairs are essentially for people who have come with a good idea of what they are looking for. Not necessarily the details, if often in great detail, but certainly with a good idea of what they are looking for in terms of the general concept, genre, price, manufacturer, designer, colour, Scandinavianness etc, etc, etc. And who thus view the fair in context of their own filters.
And who invariably find that for which they are looking. And that not by magic, nor by pure chance and extreme good fortune, but because the two sides of the furniture supply/demand equation exist in a dependent relationship with one another, arise in conjunction with one another, inform one another: supply and demand in the furniture industry being essentially the same thing. Clearly we're generalising, there were and are obviously a great many exceptions, exceptions we will always be grateful for, will always cherish; but as a general rule that which furniture manufacturers offer is that which customers are seeking, and that which customers seek is that which manufacturers offer. A balancing of the equation aided and abetted by mass media, and by furniture fairs with their vast expanses of validating, confirming, homogeneity. Which isn't a criticism per se, isn't a cause for complaint nor rebellion: it's commerce, it's how commerce works, an unspoken tacit understanding between supplier and customer reinforced by the media. Which, no, isn't conspiracy theory territory, no!!, it's not, nor per se cause for complaint nor rebellion. And thus at any given fair the majority of the furniture radiates in a manner that the majority of the visitors' filters can interpret. And take delight in.
For our part, we've no idea what we're looking for, have no preconceptions as to what we're looking for, we simply turn up, wander through the halls and hope we'll know it if we see it. Then go away and think about it. Then go back and try it again. Away and think. Back and try. Repeat. Dance with delight. Or cry in despair. All we want is to find objects with which we can engage openly and honestly.
But rather than meeting objects telling us who they are, how they came to be and what they hope to become, we find ourselves faced at any given trade fair, certainly at Stockholm 2023, with an endless expanse of similar objects telling us why we should consume them, an endless expanse of objects shouting similar messages at us, messages we can't compute, can't decipher, have no filters for.
And when we do try, did try, to engage them in conversation, try to get to the real them, we regularly found that while they are often of good material, well raised and from a commendable heritage, as individuals they were either monosyllabic or rather than speaking to us in their own words they used the carefully learned and studied language of others, had and have nothing of interest to say, nothing of themselves to tell and impart, just generic blah blah, were at times frightfully dull, characterless. And the more we conversed, or at least tried to, the more it became clear to us that the vast majority of objects on show exist purely to furnish the manufacturers' portfolios, are there to be found and consumed by that majority of the visitors who know what they're looking for, know what price they're prepared to pay, and take delight when they find that combination. Which, again, isn't a criticism per se, isn't a cause for complaint nor rebellion. It's commerce. We all behave that way every day.
The sort of experience we're looking for being perfectly summed up at Stockholm 2023 by a wooden object we stumbled across, a wooden object apparently dumped amongst some empty cardboard boxes at one end of Hall C. We've no idea where it came from, or why, or what it is, it may just have been something quickly constructed as a component of someone's display furniture, a stand for a vase or pamphlets or other small objects, certainly an Emile André was producing flower pot stands of a similar, if invariably much more floridly adorned and articulated, form, in late-19th/early 20th century Nancy; however, with its tapering base, small square top, simple, unpretentious, self-confident wooden construction and unthreatening, yet uncompromising, angularity it, for us, is pretty close to the raised perch we all need today. OK, yes, it may need lower stretchers to facilitate access and/or perching comfort, but that ain't movin' mountains. Was an object with which one could effortlessly communicate, and that not least because it was just being itself. And enjoying being itself, regardless what others thought. And interestingly it's also how we would exhibit furniture at a fair, were we ever to design some: we wouldn't pay for a stand and try to court interest, no, no, we'd smuggle it in, stick it in a corner somewhere and see what happened........ No!!! we didn't place it in Hall C so that we could photograph it and write about.
Or did we.......? 😉
Which isn't to say there weren't things that caught our attention in Stockholm, things that tickled our imagination, with which we could engage in long, interesting conversations and which caused us to dance uninhibitedly through the halls, there very much were, we definitely danced, a lot, and freely, expressively; is to say it's little wonder we spend so much time bored and disengaged at furniture fairs. They're not places geared towards the likes of us. Not places looking to accommodate the likes of us. There places of commerce.
Which was very important for us to understand.
And to understand that it isn't the furniture fair's fault.
If is something very much rooted in the essence, nature and raison d'etre, of the furniture fair.
In the essence, nature and raison d'etre, of the trade fair.
As the name implies trade fairs are fairs for trade, and always were; back in the day the members of the Hanse and other European communities would regularly meet up at established fair locations across the continent to trade, for example, herring for copper or to trade wax for silk or to trade salt for oak. And while in those days the range within any genre would have been very limited, both sides of the deal knew in advance of the fair what the other side would be looking for and no-one turn up with some random product that they hoped would be picked up: if people were expecting you to bring herring you didn't bring yo-yos, you brought herring. Similarly if you knew the others were bringing herring you didn't get all upset when they had no yo-yos, didn't indignantly question why they had no yo-yos, why all this herring? Rather you took delight in the herring. Contemporary trade fairs are no different, except that today one side brings goods and the other brings cash. Same same but different.
And which, again, in itself is no cause for complaint nor rebellion.
The question that can lead to complaint and rebellion is the one about the consequences and problems of trade fairs.
As noted above, for our part we've increasingly come to view the primary, certainly the most acute, consequences and problems of furniture fairs as being their environmental footprints and their impact on furniture.
Both large, expansive, complex themes with which we occupied ourselves greatly while wandering the halls of Stockholmsmässan: but which we don't want to get too tied up with here, we'll keep those longer discussions for another day.
Save to quickly note here that in context of the latter, and as alluded to above, we'd argue it's fair to say that some 95% - not a reproducibly measured number, just guessed - of the products on show at any given furniture fair, certainly at Stockholm 2023, can be considered variations on a very limited number of themes: the portfolios of most all manufacturers in any given segment resembling one another in all but details and price. And which while not in itself, automatically, bad, the need to differentiate one's products from a mass can, if done well and honestly, lead to genuinely interesting solutions and relationships, to genuinely meaningful objects, and does a Charles Eames not teach us all that the details are not the details, they make the design; but a state of affairs that does by necessity tend to limit that which is available, limit the genres, typologies, forms of furniture available, the material combinations available, the modes of interactions with furniture allowed, contributes to a certain Groupthink mentality, shared across the supply and demand sides of the equation, which ignores, nullifies, actively discourages attempts to fundamentally redefine furniture genres or to introduce new positions or introduce new solutions. To introduce yo-yos. A condition, we'll argue, while admittedly offering no evidence or justification, that is based on the demands of commercial success, see also the above reflections on the filters via which the majority of visitors view any given furniture fair, filters the supply and demand side of the equation collectively set and respond to; but a condition which can but damage the future development of furniture through keeping furniture penned in a restricted space, through restricting the limits of furniture's freedom, only allowing furniture to move very slowly forward for fear of being commercially compromised should you move too fast or in unexpected directions. Yes, even without fairs there would be a certain pull towards certain gravitational centres, a pull towards a certain homogeneity in the name of commercial success, no question, and that not least driven by the media, for all our highly-polished contemporary social media; however, the concentration of limited forms and genres at fairs, the concentrated homogeneity of fairs, and the unquestioned primacy of fairs in defining which and what furniture is widely, popularly, available, the unquestioned role of fairs as the gatekeepers of furniture availability, is, we'd argue, what makes them particularly harmful, and thus, we'd argue, that without fairs you would get a lot more innovation and imagination and better, more meaningful, furniture. And an awful lot less furniture, which would also be brilliant. Stockholm 2023 confirming that there's far too much....... But, as we say, that's all for another day.
And save to quickly note that in terms of the environmental footprint, furniture fairs, trade fairs, cannot be staged sustainably. Simply can't. And potentially never have been, never could have been; we're not sure if anyone has ever done a study on deforestation associated with medieval trade fairs, but we'd imagine that, for example, and staying in a Swedish context, the medieval Skånemarknaden herring fair on the southern tip of contemporary Sweden must have seen an immense volume of trees felled for fires and ship repairs and barrels and huts and the like. Almost certainly more trees than would naturally regrow before the next Skånemarknaden, thereby leading to a year on year depletion of the forests of the Falsterbonäset peninsula. From which it may never have recovered. And so if one decides one needs fairs, which arguably one does, certainly in terms of furniture, furniture being a good which one has to see, touch, smell, use in order to properly assess, the question is how? How does one stage a furniture fair with a minimal, and ever further reducible, footprint?
???
Stockholm offers a couple of insights into possible answers. On the one hand, one of the things that we've always enjoyed about Stockholm Furniture Fair is that is primarily manufacturers from the Nordic nations, only very few Italians or Germans or Americans or other non-Nordic manufacturers make their way to Stockholm, and when then often in the guise of their Scandinavian distributors presenting objects from their own stock. It is very much a local fair, with the associated limits in the distances travelled by objects and people, a situation of which we very much approve. And which in being such actively questions platforms such as Salone Milan or IMM Cologne with their global profiles. Stockholm thereby helping one approach a position, one oft espoused in these dispatches, that more local furniture fairs are a very good idea, that the furniture industry needs to stop thinking globally and start functioning locally. And on the other hand, and not unrelated, it was very interesting to note the number of manufacturers not at the 2023 fair but staging in-stores in their flagships in downtown Stockholm. The fair-time-flagship-in-store is a long established practice, but one that at Stockholm 2023 seemed to have taken on a life of its own, had almost become a second fair staged on the streets of Stockholm. And which as such offers a suggestion of an alternative: scrap all fairs and stage a coordinated calender of global design weeks where everyone shows in their own flagships, or the flagship of a friendly brand or the premises of a retail partner or a rented space, alongside other events such as, for example, a local young brand and student showcase space. And thus rather than a single global new product launch to which people travel millions of kilometres, manufacturers launch throughout the year via local events with the local distribution teams managing the local process for local customers. Admittedly we're not huge fans of the flagship in-store presentation, find it too claustrophobic an atmosphere in which to properly operate, and thus tend to avoid them at every opportunity, we didn't visit any at Stockholm 2023. But as noted above, furniture fairs aren't for the likes of us, and so who cares what we think. Genuinely. And if it helps reduce the environmental impact of the furniture industry.......
But as we say, by necessity of limitations of time and space such must be subjects for another day. And we need to get to back to Stockholm Furniture Fair 2023.
¿And how was it?
Good.
Good.
We enjoyed it very much, we very much felt those "vibrations in the brain [which] can't ever be explained", and by our last day we were racing about with our old elan, the adrenalin having finally kicked in we were off, and letting nothing and no-one get in our way.
We very much enjoyed the installation by 2023's Guests of Honour Front which presented a pleasingly varied mix of projects from across their always engaging oeuvre, and thereby very succinctly and satisfyingly helping reinforce just why Front are such an important and relevant collective; whereby we were particularly tickled by the introductory text which noted that "the Stockholm-based studio is not particularly 'Swedish'", and which tends, certainly for us, to imply that whomever wrote the text either has seen the Front entry in the Historia Supellexalis, which could just be possible, Gustav I possessed an original copy which, we believe, over time has found its way in to the collection of the Kungliga biblioteket, or they have been following our reprinting of that most important, and authoritative, encyclopedia of furniture. A reprinting that is very much ongoing.
We very much enjoyed being back in the Greenhouse, that area of Stockholm Furniture Fair for students and young professionals/brands just starting out, that space where young talents are nurtured; and for all enjoyed being back amongst hoards of students for the first time in ages, an experience which reminded us just how much we've been missing our annual #campustour, if that will start again this coming summer is still open, summer 2023 is still very much a plan being forged, but if it doesn't it wont be for lack of interest. In addition Greenhouse 2023 was a delightful reminder of not only why its important to spend time with design students but the importance of design schools in helping a new generation of designers find their own positions to and of design, their own approaches to design, their own appreciations of society's relationships with design and of the designer's role in those relationships....... before the industry chews them up and spits the out. Sorry!!!!, but it's better you know that now. And a Greenhouse to which we'll return later.
We very much enjoyed seeing that those fully enclosed, often glass-walled, sound-proof booths that a few years ago were being widely pitched as versatile room-in-room office solutions, as spaces in an office space for private meetings or just peace and quiet, are still very much a thing: we were absolutely certain that they would have been re-evaluated in context of Covid and by now would all have been re-designed as blacked out spaces for staging immersive VR meetings with a team of remote working colleagues. Their ongoing existence in their original context genuinely astonished us.
We very much enjoyed being out and about and talking to people again. We've not done much talking the past couple of years and so it was most interesting to hear words come out of our mouths rather than appear mute on the screen in front of us.
And we also very, very, very much enjoyed being back at Stockholm Furniture Fair, an institution that has always been one of the more personable fairs, always been a lot more approachable, and humane, in comparison to the others, and one which freely mixes domestic and office and contract furniture with not just lighting and textiles but also, for example, school furniture, street and public space furniture, flooring, lockers and storage solutions, and litter bins, litter bin systems, for indoor and out. A variety which is most pleasing and satisfying, and not just because it offers regular breaks from the homogeneity but because it reminds that any object of furniture is destined to become part of a larger whole, and that a designer must always consider that larger whole and the myriad people who populate that whole.
If, one must note, it was a 2023 Stockholm Furniture Fair relatively sparsely populated with manufacturers, there were a lot of laaaaaaarge spaces in all three halls; and also a lot of notable absentees, no names, no pack drill, but several of the more high profile names, those higher profile Nordic manufacturers you may reasonably have expected to meet, and in the past did meet, at the Stockholm fair, were absent. If that is/was reflective of a lethargy within the industry in terms of getting going again after Covid, or on account of a fundamental reassessment of the trade fair strategy on the part of the absentees - as noted, implied, above, several of the absentees were to be found in their city flagships - remains to be seen. As does the question of whether the move from the fair to the flagship is a temporary or a permanent relocation. Time will tell. And also a Stockholm 2023 with but sparsely populated snack platters on the stands, not that we were looking, or pining, obviously, but back in the day the stands at Stockholm were overflowing with Kanelbullar, at every stand you'd be greeted with a Hej! and a Fikabröd variation, at least in our, possibly rose-tinted, memories. This year fasting was à la mode.
More populous were the visitors, or at least in our assessment, we're still waiting for the official figures, we delayed publication in the hope of them turning up, which they haven't, yet, but once they do we will update; but the halls were well populated and there were often large crowds to be navigated and avoided. And the vast majority of whom we trust enjoyed it as much as us, it was after all conceived and staged for them.
¿And, so, are you going to give up furniture fairs, are you over furniture fairs, or....?
Don't know yet... we need to work on it a little longer. It was good, was genuinely fun, we genuinely enjoyed ourselves; but is that not an outrageously selfish way to look at it, not least in context of our misgivings, misgivings that grew in Stockholm, in terms of furniture fairs' environmental impact and their consequences for the development of furniture? But on the other hand the question of what is the alternative needs to be better approached, possible answers need to better formulated, not least because of the opportunities for exchange and discourse a furniture fair offers; furniture fairs are a lot of people in a relatively small space at the same time, a lot of people who otherwise would rarely, never, meet, certainly not face-to-face, and which is a very important, if largely unseen, component of any fair. And also because furniture is something that needs to be personally interacted with, there is no alternative. Whereby, that said, having visited Stockholm 2023 we're now certain we'll not be buying any bus tickets to Salone or IMM ever again. We're over the global fairs.
¿So, we'll see you in Milan and Cologne then?
Cheeky!! But, justified, famously resolute as we are......
¿And you implied that despite the best efforts of the furniture industry and those who encourage them, you did meet some engaging works in Stockholm...... and they would be.....?
A subject for another post, other posts......
1That was 2018, and in the interests of completion the octet were, in chronological order, IMM Cologne, Stockholm, Light + Building Frankfurt, Salone Milan, spoga+gafa Cologne, Maison et Objet Paris, Interieur Kortrijk & Orgatec
(Apologies for the lack of photos, it didn't occur to us take any general scenic shots, but it has been three years since we last had to think about how we photograph a fair, we're just out of practice.....)
