Stockholm 2016: to mark its first decade as a design studio, Stockholm-based Form Us With Love installed a retrospective exhibition at Konstakademien in its home city (+ movie).
The Swedish studio's I—X exhibition was open during last week's Stockholm Design Week 2016, and showcased work completed over the past 10 years for brands including Ikea, Menu, Muuto and Hem.
Located on the top floor of the Konstakademien – also known as The Royal Academy of Fine Arts – the show combined a display of products with a written documentary of events and milestones from the past decade.
"This exhibition is about the alchemy of getting things right," said Form Us With Love's Jonas Pettersson. "There is a narrative element to all our projects, as well as a cultural side, and therefore many areas for people to get interested in."
Form Us With Love was co-founded in 2005 by Pettersson with John Löfgren and Petrus Palmér. The trio first exhibited its Cord Lamp at the Greenhouse exhibition for emerging talent at the annual Stockholm Furniture Fair.
The team now includes eight members, and works across product, furniture, homeware, interior and branding design, along with industrial design consultancy, business ventures and civic projects.
For the exhibition, designs were displayed on or above square stands made from sheets of thick brown cardboard. Each a slightly different height, the podiums were laid out in a three-by-six grid around the neutrally decorated room. A timeline of information was written on paper sheets and mounted on boards that stood up against one wall.
The items on show were chosen to demonstrate the diversity of the studio's projects, and included watches from its brand TID – stocked at Dezeen Watch Store.
Form Us With Love's other company Baux, which manufactures sound-absorbing panels made from wood wool, was represented on a screen.
This and the compressed-felt Hood lamp shade for Ateljé Lyktan, which was also on show, both provide examples of Scandinavian designers and brands' focus on noise-reducing products: a prevalent trend at this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair.
Spun-metal Levels lampshades for One Nordic and the Plug Lamp for Ateljé Lyktan with an integrated socket for charging devices were among the lighting designs on show.
The exhibition also provided Form Us With Love's founders with the opportunity to look back and assess how design has changed since they started.
"The design industry as a whole has matured," said Löfgren. "A new stronger strategic sense is prevailing — as if the 'yet another product' designers, who were around when we first started, have finally been outgrown."
"Today, every product is a brand and that puts pressure on all designers to be lateral," he added. "This exhibition is about the lessons we've learnt."
Stockholm Design Week took place from 8 to 14 February 2016, during which Issey Miyake and Iittala launched a collaborative homeware collection, and Claesson Koivisto Rune expanded its Smaller Objects range of products with designs by Nendo and Luca Nichetto.