Enjoy our archive of previous design features.

Botanically Inspired: Josef Frank In this article read more about Josef Frank’s story and inspiration, plus get a few tips from revered Swedish design house, Svenskt Tenn, about creating botanically inspired interiors that you'll feel comfortable in.

Choosing Things that Work All of us want to buy the best that we can for our children. We want them to have things that work, that they like and at the same time are good for them or help them in their development. I asked one of the world's top-ranking design firms, Ergonomidesign of Sweden, about their experience of designing and their thoughts about purchasing the things that do all of the above for children and parents.

Designer Garbage In this article, find inspiration for your environmentally-conscious designer's eye in our list of common items that otherwise immediately will end up in the garbage dump.

Disobedience for Balance A chair that once stole the show at the Stockholm Furniture Fair highlights the way that disobedient behaviour can sometimes be good for you. “Tilt: The Chair for Disobedient Behavior” lets you do what the teacher always told you not to do.

Funkis Returns We take a look back to learn more and to consider how Nordic functionalism's original ideals are relevant to good living today.

Green Home Renewal Now that the sunlight once again floods your rooms, you might feel as though you want to put their contents on the nearest dump heap and start all over again. Think again! Let us help you to renew your home the lean, green and mean way!

Hermitic Design In Scandinavia this urge to retreat to nature in solitude is a dream inherent in culture. Below I look more at how this longing continues to express itself in modern Scandinavia as well as at ways that you can create your own hermitage at home.

Intimate Table Design Creating a relaxed and intimate feel at the meal table is an important component of eating well. What are the special tricks behind keeping the simplicity at the same time as you make things feel special?

Linen for the Everyday We look at linen from new perspectives. Its vital role in the everyday lives of people in Scandinavia in centuries gone by. And its practical even wellness promoting qualities, which are being increasingly appreciated with the revival of linen in our times.

Linen in the Genes After 25 years of self-imposed exile from his home in Hälsingland, Sweden, Rolf Åkerlund ran into a project that he just couldn?t let be. The revival of an old, run-down linen mill in his home town of Växbo became a life?s project.

Low Tech Toys Computer games can be mentally stimulating and a good learning tool, but don?t provide the variation in sensual stimulation that kids need in order to feel well. What is a Good Toy?

More North What happens when you put three energetic, visionary and well-travelled grandmothers with a passion for Nordic art and design together? You get a heavenly space for viewing, feeling, touching, tasting and smelling the very best that the North has to offer. In this case, you get More North, an other-worldly experience of Nordic art and design based in Manhattan.

Rag Rugs are in The Scandinavian rag rug has never been more popular in its long history of existence than today. Its emergence hundreds of years ago out of the need for thrift, fits well with our 21st century need to recycle. Learn more about this lasting design feature of Scandinavian homes which has arguably become a national symbol.

Relaunching Life from HomeHome is a place that has been increasingly under-rated in modern life - that is until now. Suddenly home is assuming a greater importance in everyday life once again. We look at why and provide you with our best ideas for making your home a place for relaunching life.
(Part 5 in our series 100 Great Ideas for Wellbeing in Hard Times)

Scandinavian Color School In a meeting with Berit Bergström, Managing Director of the Scandinavian Color School and President of the International Color Association, we shed light on some questions about colors through Berit's vast experience with color.

Shine the Light on White Take off your shoes, slip on a white robe and leave the dark winter behind. No, you?re not in heaven, you?re in Stockholm?s Iglo Ljuscafé or Light Café. An hour in the Iglo and you feel born again. What?s the trick? Shine the light on white.

Tiled Stove Renaissance In Scandinavia today there is a strong interest in replacing energy sources based on fossil fuels with renewable forms both to reduce the green house effects and to reduce dependency on declining global stocks of oil. Wood stoves of all kinds are experiencing a renaissance, and technology is making them increasingly efficient. One of these is the Swedish kakelugn or tiled stove.

What Wood? The famous Finnish designer Alvar Aalto once said that "nature is the symbol of freedom". Small wonder that many of us want the feel of wood around us in our living and working environments. Yet it is precisely the source of that wood - our forests - that forms a vital piece of the puzzle to make our planet sustainable for human and other life into the future. What should we as consumers be doing today to enjoy the incomparable feel of wood in our home and work environments at the same time as we do the right thing?

Find inspiration for your environmentally-conscious designer's eye

Renew your home the lean, green and mean way!

Learn more about this lasting design feature of Scandinavian homes, rag rugs