Is this it?

A piece of furniture is more than its physical form. The result is only one of many components of the designer’s process. Seeing the process is seeing how the senses meet and interact with the material. Change perspective and discover the whole picture.
Is this it? presents thirteen degree students and just as many concepts. Objects with integral questions, where the visual expression becomes an illusion of their content.

Au 79
Fredrik Andersson

A Desk

I have utilized discarded materials to create something beautiful and functional. To build this desk, I used skateboards that have reached the end of their lifecycle. By processing the wood and putting it together into this beautifully patterned table top, I have refined an old material and given it new life.

+46 70 585 89 67
fredrik.huovinen.a@gmail.com

Thank you: Evelina and family. Extra big thanks to Jäs Unit och all my friends who gave me skateboards.

Mind the Memory
By Kristina Behrens

A Cupboard

Memories are the making of you. Your mind is their home. Here the memories create paths for you to wander, until you find one of them again. However, a memory is never constant and when you find one it will be different from what it once was. And it will be different yet again when you put it back there, somewhere in your mind.

+46 70 634 11 32
kristinabehrensmail@gmail.com

Thank you: Sjöstadens snickeri, Nina Lee, Daniel Silberstein

Silhouette
By Erik Berglund

A lamp

Can an object only exist in a physical meaning, or are there other possibilities?

+46 70 212 19 15
www.erikberglund.se
berglund.erik@gmail.com

Thank you: Magnus Thelin, Maria Aperia, Niklas Zander, Lødaf A/S

Back to the Roots
By Hanna Dalrot

A sideboard/cupboard

What impressions are the foundation of my creativity? What happens when I let my creativity take control? The shapes of the forest become mine. A piece of furniture in two pieces – above ground and below. Stones and rock constitute its shape. The hidden is revealed under the earth, that which we do not see. A tribute to the roots, nature’s foundation of life. Nature, the foundation of my inspiration.

+46 70 158 28 06
hannad@beckmans.se

Thanks to: Bengt Hassis, family, friends, classmates and teachers for practical help and wise words.

[stu:l]
By Andreas Frienholt

A stool

From the idea of a reality where sound can affect the shape of objects, this [stu:l] was created. Formed after the pronunciation of the word “stool”, this object was an idea transformed from fantasy to reality using computer animation and rapid prototyping.

+46 070 160 31 71
andreas.frienholt@gmail.com

Thank you: Thank you: Ola Madsen, Digital Context, Solidmakarna AB

Tomorrow's Another Day
By Dennis Graben

A cupboard and chair

An exploration of the grandeur of existence, and an examination of our nature to constantly look for inherent value and the meaning of life. In Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus* the author compares the absurdity of man’s life to the situation of Sisyphus. The novel ends with the conclusion that “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Can allegedly meaningless repetition give new meaning to an object?

+46 073 659 78 36
dennis.graben@gmail.com

Thank you: my family

*The Greek king who in the afterlife was condemned eternally to roll a rock up a hill only to have it roll down again as it nears the top.

Lenticular Cabinet
By Amanda Karsberg

A cupboard

Inspired by dance performances and transformations of the human body, I wanted to create a piece of furniture that affects the viewer’s mood in different ways. From a material that reminds me of cheap toys I saw the potential to create a shifting surface in a piece of furniture, inspired by the alchemic process of transforming a basic material into something refined.

+46 73 959 81 16
amanda.karsberg@hotmail.com

Thank you: Pär Brandt, Nils Barowiak, family and friends

The Raisparadise Style*
By Lotta Lampa

A chaise longue and lamp

Abstract and grotesque imaginary worlds,bizarre proportions and the sense of touch are some of the inspirations that spawned this hotchpotch of bits and pieces, such as fluorescent lights and sponge painting. I then added some imagination and mysticism in an artistic way to bring out these visually strong metal objects – Raisparadise style!

+46 70554 59 15
lottalampa@gmail.com

Thank you: Christoffer Lampa/Lampas hotrod garage, my family, Viktor, Mattias Floxner, Lampbolaget

*Raisparadise is local slang for the northern village of Risögrund.

“Each Part is
like the Whole, but Smaller”*
By Kajsa Lindström

An object for storage

Psychologist C.G. Jung compared the nature of our mind to that of an iceberg, where the tip represents our conscious self. The rest is our subconscious – what we truly are. Structures are found in nature and within us, because our subconscious is our nature. Does the subconscious influence us to strive and create structures in objects as well as in society?

+46 73 644 44 99
kajsa.lindstrom@beckmans.se

Thank you: Sunna Hansdottír, Jonas Lindström, Maria Strengnell, MTB AB, Alcro, Suzanne Gieser Dr in Science History at Uppsala University, Pontus jacobsson, Eddi Törnberg

* B. Mandelbrot, mathematician

In Between
By Johan Lindberg

A coffee table

Everything can be seen as a process, a continous, ongoing transformation from one state to another, from a material to an object, from a rock to a table. But somewhere in the transition between the raw and the refined, I have halted the process to make space for the tensions between these states.

+46 73 315 74 78
j@johanlindberg.com

Thank you: Kristina, Björn, Mia Vendel, Rickard Hermansson, Combi Plåt Åseda

Workshop for Vision
By Susanne Ringström

A toolbox with construction kit for prototype visions

Dialogue is what influences us, it provides insight and involves people in the work towards a more sustainable world. This immaterial process is the main focus in the “workshop for visions” – a workshop method developed for generating ideas and prototyping the future. The designer becomes a leader in social innovation, creating behavioral changes.

+46 70 031 37 85
ringstrom.susanne@gmail.com

Thank you: Eddi Törnberg, Kristoffer Lundholm, Erik Rosin, Filip Moberg

Nate
By Lisa Berkert Wallard

A cupboard

More often than not, the idea process required to create something defines its purpose and character more than its appearance. Like the idea of reincarnation, the creative process is a journey where ideas take different forms. It is the story of how our creations come to life and how they affect – and are affected by – their environment.

+46 70 984 36 99
lisa@berkert.se

Thank you: my Ali

Hårte
By Niklas Zander

A cupboard

The foundation of my project is the lifecycle of a tree: its place in nature, as a product and as part of an object. How can things which are so similar – identical even – be valued so differently, and what creates these values?

+46 73 846 41 22
niklas.zander@beckmans.se

Thank you: my family

In the Eyes of the Beholder
Frida Jeppsson Prime
Design critic and curator

What meets the eye is never it; not the whole picture. Today’s design asks more of the viewer than ever before, as we’ve left a period behind us where commercialism has governed, a time in which design was presented as soulless objects on pedestals.

In this new phase for design, philosophy is accepted. Ideology, reflection and values are important. Thought-provoking questions thrive, and criticism exists again. Today we are used to the idea that a designer’s processes and stories are part of the product. The results on show are merely a temporary state for the object, where development is constant. It takes place within and around us, and through natural evolution.

A parallel between design and alchemy, both as science and philosophy, is close at hand – as design could potentially be described as a constant search for perfection. The alchemists believed they could render gold by processing miscellaneous metals and scrap. However, these attempts failed miserably – of course. Surely, the scientists knew that they would never succeed, but their attempts continued regardless. They pressed on because they realised it was the experiments that were satisfying, that the journey exposed new experiences as well as insight to the self. Designers are, in a similar way, heavily aware of the fact that often it’s not the result that matters, but the process.

The Idea as a Construction Material
Katja Pettersson
Senior Lecturer, Product Design

During this eight-week course we wanted to inspire our students to link theory with practical creation, critical thinking and a deliberate approach to the product, with the idea as the construction material. The theme of Alchemy, which has an actual material as well as a spiritual and mystical side, has been used to encourage the students to formulate their positions and their focus, to find new ways of seeing the world and interpreting questions – and by doing so – find new ways to design, where the object represents its content. By creating objects with content, we hope to be able to make products that have a greater emotional value and which are kept longer.

There was a time when we didn’t see design as something meaningful, and as a consequence it wasn’t treated with the respect it deserves. The exhibition culture has done its best throughout time to ridicule and simplify the matter down to surface and function. However, design is a science in which hidden dimensions always have existed, but perhaps it’s not until now they are widely accepted and valued? With this in mind, the designers in this exhibition do ask very much of their viewers. Maybe even more so because of the specific medium in which the exhibition exists; a furniture fair – where the amount of design on show is almost suffocating. The exhibition’s title and theme also place a lot of pressure on the designers to actually deliver design that speaks for itself, beyond its surface. The answer to the question Is this it? is naturally ‘no’. To avoid stalling at the first hurdle, the students have taken the alchemist’s philosophy about the meaning of life as inspiration, as well as notions such as ‘illusion’ and ‘refining’ as clues to the real meaning of their design.

By doing this they place all the power in the eyes of the beholder and rephrase the initial question to something different: Are we ready for it? Will the viewers grasp and interpret the cryptic texts that accompany the objects, and draw their own conclusions, as well as engage in each and every student’s unique process?

Creating the Communication Concept
Annika Berner
Programme Director, Visual Communication

When the Visual Communication students undertook the task of communicating the project, the Design students had initiated their process and started to investigate their personal relations to the theme of the course.

In the parallel communication working process, a group of five (second-year) students explored how design can be communicated, interpreting the design student’s ideas and temperaments. The Visual Communication group developed an overall concept – Is this it? Aided by an illusionist, they want to show that there are many ways of perceiving a piece of furniture. What we perceive depends on our focus. The result is presented in concepts for communication, web, films, photos, the showcase and this booklet.

Concept and Creative Direction

Isabel Leal Bergstrand, Frida Everling, Lina Forsgren, Per Holmquist, Patrik Mollwing

Credits for the films

DoP: Erik Persson, Focus Puller: Mats Ljungberg, Illusionist: Axel Adlercreutz, Gaffer: Sebastian Sheild, Best Boy: Oskar Lundh, Light Design: Renan Costa, Sound Technician: Anders Degerberg (Europa Sound), Make-up Artist: Andina Baca, Editing: Jocke Pontén, Grading: Stopp, Sound: Pretty Production

Credits for the catalogue

Photographer: Erik Wåhlström, Light Design: Renan Costa, Guest Writer: Frida Jeppsson Prime, Copywriter: Christian Odelmalm, Translation: Språk & Co, Proofreader: Loffe Palmgren

Web

Developer: Isak Burström

Thanks to

Family Dossis and Gotevas, Axel Adlercreutz, Renan Costa, Konst & Teknik, Elanders Fälth & Hässler, Språk & Co, Restaurang Hjulet, Bygg-Ole, Stockholm Serie & Skivhandel, Alcro, Printproffset, Ryska Posten, Dlh, Kameraten, Ljud & Bildmedia, Rickard Gabrielsson
at Glowlamp baby, Interface

This website accompanies the exhibition “Is this it?”at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2012.

The project is a collaboration between the Product Design
programme and the Visual Communications programme
at Beckmans College of Design.

Place and time
Greenhouse VH03:11, Stockholm Furniture Fair.
Stockholmsmässan, Älvsjö
February 5–9, 2013
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Friday: 9–18
Saturday: 10–17

Download
Press Kit

Containing high-res
images and texts