Hello again! Had a nice summer? Me too! I have been relaxing together with family and friends, and after the holidays I feel pepped and inspired getting back to business. I got some very interesting projects in the pipeline and I am really looking forward to deal with them. Also, back home it is a big difference than before. We had our first child in april. It is a very special feeling to see the happiness in my son’s eyes when I come home after work.

Here are some new pics from the last design events and exhibitions I visited. Design S is from june and Formex from last weekend. Also a couple of nice pics from the hotel Nordic Light where we stayed during Formex. Since Snoopy celebratin 60 years they had this Joe Cool exhibition.

Design S exhibition and award ceremony

Formex

Beautiful lamps by young swedish designer Johan Lindstén

The Joe Cool suite at Nordic Light

On friday 4 of June we organized a design meeting in Jönköping. The day was arranged by myself and my friend Dag Holmgren, with support from Swedish Association for Designers, SVID – Swedish Industrial Design Foundation and Svensk Form - Swedish Society of Crafts and Design.

It was a really nice day, filled with interesting speakers and opportunities to network and meet new friends. Almost 80 participants, mostly designers but also producers and representatives from swedish design organizations.

Among the speakers we heard Peter Horbury – Vice President of Design at Volvo Cars, Lars Johansson – founder of Profilgruppen AB, Carina Mollsö – Designer at Scandinavian Eyewear, Lotta Ahlvar - Swedish Association for Designers / The Swedish Fashion Council, Gisela Mattisson and Christer Ericson – SVID, Britt-Marie Börjesgård – Svensk Form, Anders Wisth – Designregion Småland / Möbelriket.

Design Open is a design competition for Swedish students. I am participating as a coach for leading one of the schools, hopefully to win the first prize. The challenge for the students is to come up with sustainable solutions for future transport needs. This year, 1500 people will be involved in Design Open, together putting in 80 000 h of creative thougts on the subject. It will be intresting to see the outcome of that!
Click here to see the Design Open website.

From the design festival in Sundsvall.

Formex is Scandinavia’s leading fair for design and interiors. Of course Swedish Association of Designers attended at the event August 27-30. Here we are, happy board members, gathering in our stand for a group photo.
Standing from left: Anna Bonnevier, Daniel Byström, Hanna Ydremark, Ulf Berlin, Mattias Svensson, Katarina Brieditis and Gottfried Gemzell. Sitting: Nina Back-Sundström, Anneli Pettersson and Lotta Ahlvar.

It´s Sunday August 16. I am in Berlin, at historical ground – the Olympic Stadium. The World Championships in Athletics. In just a few minutes Usain Bolt will break the 100 metres world record. He’s about to doing the ”impossible”. But everyone know – the ”impossible” is possible. The expectations are high. But no one expected 9,58.

Usain Bolt and I have the same motto. Anything is possible! That’s what I have in mind in my everyday creative profession, and that’s also the reality for the fastest man on earth. 9 seconds and 58 hundredths. That’s insane. That’s inspiring…

Tillbaka till verkligheten. En vecka i Åre tar på krafterna fysiskt, men man blir otroligt mentalt utvilad och inspirerad. Vi hade tur med vädret, särskilt under tävlingarna. Det är svårt att slita sig från Åre, när man väl är på plats vill man gärna stanna för gott. Det är verkligen en riktig vinterort, och det är kul med alla olika aktiviteter som finns runt omkring. Får se när vi syns nästa gång, men nu är det annat jobb som väntar…

På söndag bär det av till Åre. Den 11-15 mars pågår världscupsfinalen, och då kommer jag att befinna mig mitt i tävlingsbackarna. Jag ingår i det team som underhåller backarna före och under tävlingarna.

Det kommer bli skönt att komma i från kontorsjobbet ett tag och arbeta mer fysiskt utomhus. Förhoppningsvis blir väderet lite bättre denna gång, i motsats till VM 2007 då jag också var med och jobbade. Det kan bli ganska tungt arbete i bland. Särskilt vid snöfall, det vill vi inte ha. Skulle ju inte vara fel med lite sol, men man vet ju aldrig. Inspirerande kommer det bli i allafall!