Last minute London preparations before taking off for vacation

Sista dagen före semestern. Idag var det bara Annika och jag kvar som tappra soldater för att försöka få klart det mesta inför vår stora Londonsatsning i september. Vi fick också besök av några av våra medverkande, såsom Tom Hedqvist, Thomas Bernstrand, Whatswhat m fl. Nu får ni förlåta oss om det blir lite glest med svar och blogg-inlägg, men vi kommer åter med vässade verktyg i augusti. www.swedishdesigngoeslondon.com uppdateras längs vägen.

Bekräftade hittills bland företagen som kommer med till London: Svenskt Tenn, Johansson Design, Shape Audio, A2 Design, Zweed, Zero Design, Ragnars, Olby Design, Support Design, 10-gruppen, Horreds, Whyred, Modus, Silvercurl of Gotland, Galleri Pascale, Gense, Mateus, Lammhults/Abstracta 

och bland formgivarna:  Anna Kraitz, Folkform, Monica Förster, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Mattias Ståhlbom, Thomas Bernstrand, Simon Klenell, Alexander Lervik, Jonas Lindvall, FiftyFiftyProjects, Karin Frankenstein, Mia Cullin, What’s what, Thomas Malmberg, Fredrik Färg, Emma Blanche, Per B Sundberg, Märta Mattson, Souzan Youssouf & Naim Josefi, Kyuhyung Cho, Markus Johansson

With exhibitions, seminars, talks and several producers and designers, Swedish design will be very visible in the British capital in September 2011.

With this exhibition we wish to share the vital diversity and playfulness which is characteristic of Swedish design today, far from the common perception of Swedish design as merely blonde and restrained. We want the visitors to feel at home and take part of an informal everyday lifestyle.  With the talks we hope to deepen the relations with our British friends, to discuss common topics within design and architecture, and to show the strength of Swedish design industry.

To start with, the Ambassador of Sweden will exclusively open up her Residence at Portland Place for a Swedish design exhibition: Hemma (the Swedish word for home). The magnificent 18^th century architecture of Robert and James Adam will shed a new light on the contemporary shapes ofdesign for one of the first events during the Design Festival.

A series of Library talks will be hosted in the the Residence throughout the exhibition period, examining the key issues affecting Swedish design and architecture today, while also looking at differences and similarities of Sweden and Britain's design culture. The visitors can enjoy flavours of Sweden in the concept Fika with...  while having the chance to engage intimately in conversation with some of the most important designers, companies, architects and pioneers working in Sweden today. 

Over at Designersblock, the 31 young Swedish designers currently showing as part of the touring exhibition ung8 will add their own set of influences, colours and shape to one of the Festival's must-sees. Ung is the Swedish word for youth and also the name of a recurrent, juried exhibition with designers born in 1979 or later. Prototypes, concepts and innovative design solutions with the ability to shape the future and create a stir are selected for this exhibition.

At Skandium store in Kensington, a unique retrospective by the trio Claesson Koivisto Rune will be on show, tracing the progression of one of Sweden's most infamous multi-disciplinarians from their emergence to today's intelligent, witty take on design and architecture. 

Thomas Bernstrand under his own umbrella - on of our star designers for Swedish Design Goes London

Bengt and John of Whatswhat are also participating in London with conceptual installations

Annika Björkman is trying to get all the furniture and designers in place on our library table before they acutally will invade the Swedish Ambassador's residence in September.

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