Digital explorers Wang & Söderström to create set design for Greenhouse

The experimental design duo Wang & Söderström are taking charge of the Greenhouse area at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, February 4–8, 2020 – providing the Nordic region’s leading arena for up- and coming designers a suitable setting:
– Our ambition is to create an environment that merges the futuristic and the contemporary, the digital and the physical, explain Anny Wang and Tim Söderström.

Greenhouse, the international platform for up-and-coming designers, continues to grow and flourish. The initiative, which was launched in 2003 and has produced such names as Front, GamFratesi and Form Us With Love, is now gaining a specially designed venue by the acclaimed Wang & Söderström. The client list for the Copenhagen-based pair of designers and artists takes in everyone from Nike to the Malmö City Theatre, the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft and Iittala.
– We are a little hard to pin down, admits Anny Wang.
– We’re trained architects, but we work just as much in the digital world. Traditionally, these have been seen as polar opposites: one real, the other pretend. But we don’t see that division. We approach both with the same level of pragmatism.

At the fair, this cross-pollination will manifest itself in a 120 meter long and 3.5 meter tall enclosure, a combination of digital screens and large-format images.
– We’ll be trying to get our hands on every large-format screen we can find at the fair, says Tim Söderström.
– The idea is to project digital renderings of natural objects, moving sequences that emphasize wildness and growth. We want it to feel unreal, yet real. Not fully defined. Just like the designers exhibiting in the Greenhouse.

This year’s Greenhouse jury has selected 37 independent designers and 30 design schools. Designer Jens Fager, who has chaired the jury since 2015, sees internationalization as a clear trend.
– We now expect entries from the USA, Japan, the UK and China. But this year we also had applications all the way from South Korea, Bolivia and Mongolia, which injects a greater sense of differentiation and dynamism.

Pye Aurell Ehrström, partner at Marge Arkitekter and a new member of the jury, was particularly impressed by the applicants’ entrepreneurial spirit and the joy they showed in their designs.
– Getting to exhibit in the Greenhouse is, of course, an honor, but it’s also a major undertaking. You have to pay for travel and accommodation, the products have to be transported to the fair and the stand has to be designed. It takes a striking amount of drive and commitment.

The jury’s next job is to nominate five candidates for the Best Performance award.
– Presented for the first time in 2019, the award recognizes the product that best embodies the core values of the Greenhouse: curiosity, innovation and sustainability, says Cecilia Nyberg, Project Area Manager of Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.
– The award is presented in partnership with Volvo Studio, and the winner receives EUR 5,000 – plus the honor and the opportunities that come with the prize, of course, The fair gives the winner the ideal chance to make contact with potential manufacturers.

The jury for Greenhouse 2020 comprises:
Pye Aurell Ehrström, architect
Jens Fager, designer
Björn Florman, materials expert and sustainability consultant
John Löfgren, designer
Anya Sebton, designer and interior architect.

For more information please visit www.stockholmfurniturefair.com or contact:
Cecilia Nyberg, Project Area Manager, tel +46 8 749 43 86, cecilia.nyberg@stockholmsmassan.se
Carolina Ekman, Press Officer, Stockholmsmässan, + 46 8 749 41 35, carolina.ekman@stockholmsmassan.se

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair is the world’s leading event for Scandinavian furniture and lighting design. Domestic and international visitors will find the most comprehensive selection of Scandinavian furniture, office furnishings, design, textiles, lighting and other interior furnishings for both homes and public spaces.

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair runs in parallel with Stockholm Design Week. www.stockholmdesignweek.com