Design from Scandinavia, No. 6

Front Cover - Design from Scandinavia, No. 6

Bjerregaard, Kirsten, Ed., Design from Scandinavia, No. 6,  © 1977 World Pictures, Frederiksberg, Denmark, Soft cover, 160 Pages.

Each Year, Design from Scandinavia unfolds an exhibition in pictures of the best and latest products and shows the interplay of these objects in a setting and a lifestyle. This issue includes all Nordic countries - Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

Design from Scandinavia

Back Cover - Design from Scandinavia, No. 6

This volume is the sixth in the series of Design publications started in 1967. As in previous editions, it presents a broad selection of the best and latest in furniture, furnishing textiles, lamps, applied art, and handicrafts from the four Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. These publications form an ongoing source of information about Scandinavian products and the designers and manufacturers behind them.

Design from Scandinavia is periodically issued when it is felt justified by introducing sufficient high-quality material, but never more than once yearly. An effective network of distributors (listed on Page 128) makes it possible to obtain copies through most international bookshops the world over. It can be ordered direct from the publisher, World Pictures AS, who will inform you of the publication of new editions. Editions 1, 2, and 3 are out of print and will not be reprinted. A limited number of copies of Editions 4 and 5 are still available for order.

Architecture from Scandinavia

In 1974, the first edition of Architecture from Scandinavia was published. The book, a companion volume to Design from Scandinavia, is texted in four languages - English, German, French, and Scandinavian, and presents a selection of Scandinavian building products and complete houses for export. It also provides know-how and shows examples of building and construction work from the four Nordic countries. The comprehensive index contains additional information about the products and the complete addresses of producers. One can obtain architecture from Scandinavia through the outlets mentioned above under Design from Scandinavia.

What is Scandinavian design?

What is Scandinavian design? Look at these chairs. They are a selection from current Scandinavian furniture production and indicate the variations that one can find just in chair designs. But can we claim that they are all typical of Scandinavian design? In the following pages, the Swedish critic Ulf Hard of Segerstad describes the background for Scandinavian design and mentions some of the main characteristics. As in our past editions, this book gives a comprehensive presentation of the best in Scandinavian furniture, handicrafts, and applied art. The index provides all relevant information about addresses and decorations.

No object is so unimportant that a qualified artist or designer should not shape it. This has been one of the basic principles for Scandinavian design from the beginning of this century. This again indicates it is less a question of style than of a program. On these pages, you can see several selected products in Scandinavian design made during the last five decades, with the oldest from the late twenties.

Some are purely practical in use, like the table cutlery, the lamp, and the chairs. Others are purely decorative, like the ceramic figure and the "snail" in laminated wood. Some people may feel they can discern a common language of form in these different objects, but that should not overshadow the essential aspect, the philosophy behind them. Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are all relatively small countries, and this is a fundamental condition for Scandinavian design. Small countries cannot compete with larger countries in mass production or industrial quantity.

But under favorable conditions, they can gain a reputation for quality. Each product should sell its idea, and preferably an idea materialized in good form. The good form must apply down to the last detail, and we present many examples of this on the following pages.

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