When Swedish Designers Preferred Plastic
July 26, 2004 | bengisu
Jugs, ladles, utensils, and bowls are common exhibition fare. However, it's not often you see an exhibit devoted to the plastic, rather than clay, versions of these items.
On view through July 25 at the Svenskform gallery in Stockholm, Swedish Plastic Design 1950-1971 features 470 pieces that range from kitschy to elegant, translucent to solid. Selected from the collection of Thomas Lindblad, who purchased all of the items at Swedish flea markets, the objects span plastic's heyday in Sweden. A few pieces from the material's advent in the 1940s, as well as three new items by young designers, form the exhibition's chronological bookends.
"The idea of this exhibition is to show the design of everyday life," says Stefan Nillson, marketing manager of Svensk Form, the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design. Holding up a triangular blue juicer for inspection, he adds, "We want to make people think, when they look at this, someone had to design this, someone had to decide to make it this shape."
Swedish designers tend to think practically, Nillson says; this approach accounts for the solid (albeit bright) colors of nearly all the objects on show.
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