Hasta La Ideas

A multi-disciplinary design studio’s fringe experiments combine science with art at Stockholm Design Week 2012

Note Design Studio quietly sidled into the public eye last year with its exhibition Marginal Notes, as part of Stockholm Design Week. Alexis Holmqvist, Susanna Wåhlin, Johannes Carlström, Kristoffer Fagerström and Cristiano Pigazzini run the multi-disciplinary studio, which has since built up a prolific base of collaborations with companies across Sweden and beyond, not to mention fresh interior architecture and installations like the recent Below the Snow at the Formex design fair.

This year, the studio revisited the original Marginal Notes concept to show another exhibition of experimental prototypes lifted from the margins of their notebooks. “We’re looking for those unique sketches which pop out when you look at them again, the ones you just need to realize,” says Fagerström. A recurring theme seemed to be emerging from the team’s prep-work, that of Base Camp; “Simplistic materials and shapes of scientific field exploration tools; adapted to wear and tear,” he adds.

As with its previous 2011 exhibition, the group set to taking the 2D sketches into 3D, with a diverse set of results that mix color, material and form in a light airy expression that has become the firm’s signature. Marginal Notes gave Note a chance to not only show conceptual work but also its more recent collaborations like the simple overhead lighting for Zero, a mobile project screen for Zilenzio and a group of light ash wood structures, dressed in fabrics from Afroart.

However, Note stands out mostly for its independent projects like Tuc, a group of three rotund stools which get their form from the Steve Zissou-style beanie hat and its attention-grabbing red color. The edges of the cushion are folded up to reveal an intricate lattice of metal beneath.

The piece Sifter is a scaled-down take on an excavation machine from a building site, transformed into a coat hanger with a net below to catch items that may drop from your pockets. Peep brings light into typically dark bulky storage furniture, using the same mesh as Mosquito, a selection of screens that can be used as backdrops or temporary feature walls. The Catch is a fun ceiling light that can be moved around its central pivot to resemble a firefly caught in a butterfly net.

“To fell a tree, and to cut it up into useful pieces is a thing of pride for a lumberjack or a settler building their first cabin,” says Fagerström, explaining the Settler seat. “The iconic shape of a log on a sawbuck inspired these benches, since a dead tree in the forest is really the best place for a short rest.”

Marginal Notes 2012

8-10 February 2012

Showroom Lindehöf,

Hornsgatan 29, Stockholm

Custom denim built by brothers at Northern Sweden’s Unionville shop

There’s a special level of appreciation for denim in Sweden. Acne, arguably the country’s most directional label, began as a project to make a few pairs of jeans for the founders’ friends. Fast forward to today and, on top of Acne, there are a host of denim brands whose cuts have endeared them to the fickle undercurrent of raw denim lovers including Nudie, Cheap Monday and other smaller brands who specialize in working with raw denim. Perhaps it’s the country’s affinity for utilitarian apparel, its strong subculture scene or maybe simply because Swedes gravitate toward quality above other more aesthetic attributes.

Almost a year to the day of its opening, we took a trip to Unionville, a specialist denim and workwear emporium on Stockholm’s Södermalm island to speak to Douglas Luhanko, who co-founded the store with his brother, Hampus and fellow denim specialist, Fredrik Johansson. Unionville sits on a quiet street behind its sister store, Sivletto—Stockholm’s Rock a Billy paradise—stocking a carefully selected blend of Japanese brands like The Flat Head and Iron Heart alongside classics including Levis and Wrangler and local labels Denim Demon and Blue Highway.

Blue Highway marks the work of the Luhanko brothers, whose passion for denim runs much deeper than just designing it. “We started six years ago,” explains Douglas. “My brother and I were still in a small town in Northern Sweden and we’ve always has this shared love of jeans and the history of denim itself. So Blue HIghway actually started out as a blog where we talked about vintage denim, its cultural references and history,” says Luhanko.

Pointing to one of Unionville’s hand-sourced machines, Douglas tells the story of how he and his brother acquired it after seeing a local advertisement—although it was only a single-seam stitch, it was enough to start with, and Blue Highway began to morph from a blog into what is arguably Sweden’s only truly custom denim brand. “Despite living at the time in Eskilstuna and working from a small basement there was a clear benefit in the small, isolated town in that it’s got a really long, industrial past,” says Douglas. “So we were able to pick up more machines over time, which are the ones hissing in our workroom here at Unionville.”

“I love how raw denim is brought to life by the person wearing it,” he adds. “Even though it may look like a normal pair, the owner knows that behind each line, fade, mark and crinkle is its own personal story.” While the brand has been growing organically for six years, the brothers have been involved in garment-making for much longer. Sharing a strong desire to return to the ideals of an 18th-century tailor, the Luhankos create everything from scratch for each client.

As Blue Highway began to pick up more clients, the pair began their never-ending search for authentic deadstock rolls of denim. “We’ve been through about 15 different types of denim,” Douglas says. “At the start we just hunted on Ebay but in Sweden that’s really expensive. We’ve gotten better at sourcing as time has passed,” he continues, pulling out their latest find, Cone Mills deadstock. “This one was meant for Levis, and it’s a little wider than the narrow shuttle loom denim we’ve had in the past,” he explains. “It’s about 11 ounces, and not so slubby like you’d get from Japan, but already now, when I feel it, I can see the possibilities.”

The brothers make everything in a workroom at the rear of the store, in full view of visitors. “Each pair takes around six hours to make,” Douglas points out, going on to explain that Blue Highway will never be about the money. “For us, it’s about the attitude of creation itself and paying a genuine homage to each piece of fabric and exploring the limits of our own creativity and cratsmanship at the same time.” He is quick to stress that their brand will always be completely handmade, so their vision remains imprinted on every aspect of the finished garment.

Given the duo’s pedigree as denim historians, Blue Highway’s cut is proudly based around a classic 1950s five-pocket cut. Each pair is single-stitched and overlocked on original, period sewing machines, while belt loops and bartacks on the rear pockets are completed by hand. Blue Highway denim sports special brass hardware that’s embossed in the workshop, and hand-cut, stamped leather patches. Perhaps in homage to Levis, Douglas is quick to mention that they don’t do riveted pockets. That said, they have added their own special twist on the coin pocket, which is sized large enough to fit a watch, with a slightly scooped cut to enable faster access to its contents.

The cost for this labor intensive process runs around 3,000 SEK (approximately $440), available at Unionville.

Residents plunging into the swimming pool of this Stockholm house may feel like they’re in an aquarium.

The surface of the swimming pool is located on the deck of the upper ground level, but a large window in its concrete side faces visitors arriving on the floor below.

Designed by Swedish architects DAPstockholm, the three-storey Villa Midgård and its swimming pool are set into the inclining landscape.

Slate wraps the elevations of the house at the lower level, while Corten steel clads the facades of the upper two storeys.

A central crank splits the building into two halves, with different rooms on each side.

One half of the roof is covered in grass and the other half is occupied by a terrace.

Other houses with interesting swimming pools include a remote Australian lodge and a jumbled house in India.

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman.

Here’s some more information from DAPstockholm:

A multi‐faceted house with a lot of attitude

When the client met with DAPstockholm they wished for a solid, secluded house with a maintenance‐free facade, a sense of ceiling height and a master bedroom with the benefit of morning sun.

They also wished for a solution where they could open up larger windows toward the scenery and have a sheltered space where they could sit and listen to the pouring rain.

This resulted in a multi‐faceted house where the shape and direction of the different volumes are based on various factors such as the terrain, the light conditions, the views and the privacy. The volumes give the house seven different facades.

This and the dramatic nature of the sloping site provide the house with a unique character. Cut‐ outs in the mountain give space for the outdoor seating areas. In the south‐east direction, outside the SPA, one of these creates a significant border between the arranged and the rampant garden.

Click above for larger image

The second floor is suspended above the entrance floor to shadow and protect the yard. Here the infinity pool, made out of dark concrete, make you think of a deep forest lake adding to qualities of a wilderness where the water runs over the pool edge.

Click above for larger image

The facade of the souterrain is made out of slate and the stair from the carport out of limestone. Grass covers the roof of the tallest volume and the roof terrace where it is themed with spruce. The house interior also exhibit materials that are close to nature such as walnut, ceramic granite and marble.

Click above for larger image

“By using living materials the house will become more characteristic with age” says Calle Smedshammar, partner Architect at DAPstockholm.

Project: Villa Midgård
Architect: DAPstockholm
Area: approx 300 sqm
Number of rooms: Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, one toilet, common area, kitchen, living room, cinema, spa, guest room, wine cellar, storage and a tech room divided onto three floors.
Construction and Facade: Cast‐in‐place concrete structure and Corten steel with elements of charcoaled beech wood
Location: Stockholm
Client: Private
Status: Completed 2011
Landscape: In collaboration with Nod Combine
Paving for entrance and parking: White pigmented concrete
Carport: Cast‐in‐place concrete structure blasted into the side of the mountain and covered in vegetation

A spiky kindergarten and a bulbous sports centre with rooftop funnels are included in this conceptual community by architecture students at Lund University, Sweden.

Anahita Nahoomi, Lina Davidsson, Miranda Westfelt and Robert Janson collaborated on the project, which proposes both new and converted buildings for a site outside Lund city centre.

An undulating grass landscape would slope up from the ground as the roof of the sports centre, which would house a gym and sunken swimming pool in the southwest corner of the site.

An old school building would be converted into a market hall, study rooms and a café, with student housing blocks on the roof.

The new kindergarten would be situated just beyond, alongside a row of studios and workshops for artists.

Housing clusters are proposed for the southeast corner of the site, each with shops and small businesses occupying their ground floors.

Some other memorable conceptual projects by students include headquarters for an illegal migration company and an upside-down skyscraper.

Here’s some text about the project from Robert Janson:

Lilla Råby is a small quarter in Lund, Sweden. The area is located close to the center of the town.

The place is experienced empty, it doesnʼt encourage to activity and is currently full of barriers, both physically and mentally. It is characterized by a pedestrian and a lane which divides the area into two different parts.

These parts today contain a sport center, a kindergarten, a high school and some historic buildings that are worth preserving.Our task was to create more activity and life in the area while preserving and improving the functions that exists today.We also wanted to create a new link between the south part and the center of Lund. The idea was to create a smooth transition in scale between the high buildings to the west and the smaller scale buildings in the surrounding neighborhoods. In our proposal, we have chosen to work with buildings that encourage activity both inside and outside.

The sport hallʼs roof creates a landscape that could be used for different purposes during different seasons. While it creates a green space in the summer, it can be turned into a sledding hill in the winter. It also creates a natural link with the small scale residential neighborhood adjacent to Arkivgatan.

This residential area has a dense village structure with green roofs and narrow paths that opens up to a common garden where one can grow vegetable as well as it forms a meeting place for the residents. The houses that lies along the Hardeberga path has room for minor activities and businesses on the ground floor while the second and third floor is residential.

Site with existing buildings

The school buildings in the west corner is preserved but the function has been replaced by a market hall, study areas and a cafe. On top of the building, we have chosen to build small student housing and rooftop parks in order to increase the activity in the area.

Clearing the site

On the north east side of the quarter lies Lilla Raby kindergarten. It has preserved its location, character and the amount of green space while the new building encourages playfulness and climbing both indoors and outdoors.

New movement patterns

Between the kindergarten and the market is a path lined by partly old and new buildings of small scale character. These houses can be used as studios, workshops or “pop-up” galleries. Lilla Råby is not just a new center outside Lund, its an active community with a rich cultural life, social encouragement and close contact with agriculture and nature.

New buildings

See also:

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East Mountain by Johan Berglund	Women at War by Charlotte Wilson at Free Range	Vertical Strip by Stephen Sobl

Un rendu dynamique pour ce motion et ces packagings d’habillages / génériques de l’émission MTV Charts “Struggle” commissionné par MTV Networks Sweden. Une direction artistique et une production du studio Zeitguised sur un sound-design de Kungen & Hertigen.

Previously on Fubiz

• PostPanic Showreel 2011
• MTV – Close and Caring
• Teddy

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