Hi! Just when you thought that I have disappeared from the blog world I am here again with a new post. It has been a long time since my latest post, I know. It has happened so much, and I have not had the time.

A lot of my effort has been focused on the Swedish Association of Designers, where I have been the Chairman since 2011. We have been developing the organization and I have been around at meetings with ministries and institutions, and representing in Sweden and abroad. Besides the nordic countries I have been to Hong Kong for the Swedish partnership in one of the biggest design conferences in the world – BODW – Business of Design Week. I was invited among the honored guests and participated also as one of the moderators; I was responsible for the sustainable design session with keynotes from Catarina Midby and Margareta van den Bosch from H&M, Hans Hassle from Plantagon, Kristoffer Hansén from Scania and C.L. Lam from Hong Kong based Green and Associates. The whole week gathered around two hundred swedes in Hong Kong and BODW had about 100.000 vistors. It was a huge success! Thank you General Consulate of Sweden and Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Read more about the Swedish partnership at www.bodw.com and www.sweden-livingdesign.com

I am also proud to tell that I am member of the board at Form/Design Center in Malmö since one year. During 2014 opened up to work in the Malmö-Öresund region. It is one of the most interesting and dynamic regions in Europe right now; a hot spot for design and creativity. I am very happy that we grasped this opportunity to live and work at another place, it is very inspiring and enriching. This doesn’t mean that the studio in Västervik is closed, I have kept my office and workshop there as well. At the moment we have a house in Västervik and a flat in Malmö.

Since beginning of 2015 I am more in Västervik again. The reason is that I had a new born that arrived in February! I have also accepted an offer from the municipality of Västervik to work half-time as project manager for urban development projects. It is very interesting and I learn a lot from being involved into these contexts. I can contribute with new perspectives, and I can have use from my skills within creativity management, design processes and sustainability. It is a lot about adding methods for co-creation and to enhance the dialogue and communication within urban planning projects. It is a lot of interesting projects going on. So far I have led the work for a new street and I am working right now on a square.

There has been so much happening so I can not write about it all here. As the last thing I will just briefly inform you a bit what is going on with me and Iceland. I have been there many times now, and the visits has become more often. During 2014 Design March I was a part of a group who exhibited the results from a design initiative in Utah, USA. We focused on design for Small Communities. We also held a seminar and a workshop in Hannesarholt in Reykjavik. It is an initiative from the group Designers & Forests where I am one of the co-founders, established in 2013. We were starting up an dialogue on how design can be used as a method and a process for sustainable development. We presented the work process that we have developed; EXPLORE-REFLECT-RESPOND. All the participants on the seminar was invited to take part in some exercises that we had prepared. This initiative will be followed by other projects with a similar approach; next one starts now in end of July and beginning of August 2015 in the forests and communities of upper State of New York. More info www.designersandforests.us

Anyhow, it was Iceland I was about to tell more about. Since 2014 I have two new commissions connected to Iceland. One of them is to develop a couple of new series of lamps for a lamp company. I am working on this with my dear friend and colleague Kristjan Kristjansson who is a Lighting Designer and lives in Reykjavik. During Design March 2015 we were exhibiting the prototype af a new lamp – the Puzzle lamp. It will soon be out on the market. We also showed the conceptual Hollow lamp that is very much appreciated and we have got a lot of attention from. More info about the lamp designs will come during fall 2015.

The main project that I am working on in Iceland is Afangastadurinn Austurland – Destination Austurland. It is a destination design project where eight municipalities in east Iceland have agreed on collaboration for developing a common destination platform. Austurland is the region of esat Iceland. It is a spectacular region. Fantastic nature, fjords, wildlife, culture, a lot to see and do and very nice people. I am very happy to be involved in this initiative. The tourism is one of the new primary industries of Iceland, and a lot of effort is being put into the sector in national contexts. Austurland is now one of the regions who takes the lead are pioneers in many ways. The focus for the initiative is to strengthen the attractiveness and competiveness of the destination, and to create a framework for long term, sustainable and profitable growth for the tourism industry. The focus is also on regional development, and on the well-being of communities and residents. The initiative intends to establish a community movement and a framework for destination development. Everyone are invited to get involved. Methods being used aims for co-creation, dialogue and communication throughout the whole process. Áfangastaðurinn Austurland is initiated by FAUST – Ferðamálasamtök Austurlands, and run by Austurbrú.

As I already said, it is hard to update about everything that is going on. This is enough for now. I promise that next blogpost will come soon.

Design that engage people and develop communities – that was the heading when Daniel Byström from DBD/Design Nation was invited as key note speaker at Business Swedens event; Scandinavian Light and Design in Vienna November 7th 2013. Arranged together with the Swedish and Norwegian Embassies. About 500 registered guests was attending the event that was held in fantastic Semperdepot – Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The guests was architects, designers, purchasers. Among the other speakers were norwegian designer Vibeke Skar and  Sweden’s Ambassador to the United States 2007-2013 Jonas Hafström. Participating exhibitors was Swedish and Norwegian producers of furnitures and lightnings.

Except of showing the characteristics of nordic design aesthetics, Daniel talked about our way of design thinking, the reasons and methods when working in design processes. He explained what community design is about, and how it always must be a sustainability focus in several layers in every design project. In his role as chairman of the Swedish Association of Designers, Daniel also showcased good design examples from contributed from Swedish design studios. There were 65 examples containing everything from sustainable products, concepts, fashion, graphic designs, packaging, services. The speak was focusing on the question – What can design do?  The question isn’t what design is, but what design can do. Designers are practitioners of an applied process of creative skills; researching, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing and then conceptualizing, testing and communicating solutions. We live in a world full of opportunities. Design can be used to connect to people, engage and develop communities and regions. How do we utilize the creativity of the community? How do we create shared visions? How do we make real sustainable products and environments?

On the 21 of september Sveriges Designer held the conference Design Action in Pukeberg, Nybro – DesignAction 2012. It was a very inspiring day with 140 participants and great speakers! Read more about the conference and watch the videos from the day at www.designaction.se.

The purpose of the conference was to bring together key individuals in Swedish business; design expertise, manufactures, design buyers and organizations – with focus on increasing our understanding of how design efforts can create more innovation, higher level of customer satisfaction and better growth. The conference were planned within the national program for the creative industries and Vinnova’s program “Innovation and Design” to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship and growth in Sweden.

As the chairman of the board for Sveriges Designer I am very satisfied with the result. It has been a lot of work though, where I was involved in all parts and responsible for the planning and making of the conference. Very well – now remains only the summary and report. It will be interesting to analyze the reflections that were given from the audience during the day! I will come back with more information.

Key note speaker Magnus Lindkvist on stage. A really great speaker!!

In beginning of March I traveled to Iceland to work in the project Creative Communities. I went together with my colleague Victor from Nässjöakademin, who is one of the partners in the project. My part was to lead a four day workshop in Egilsstadir on east Iceland, with participants from the area. It was a very inspiring trip and we got a fantastic welcoming reception. The views was extraordinary, Iceland is really a fairytale landscape. I left with with a strong desire to come back, I got a lot of friends and I started to really care about the region.

Since we were on Iceland we also fitted in to stay in Reykjavik for some days. We stayed in the apartment at the Swedish Ambassador’s Residence. On behalf of The Swedish Association of Designers and the Scandinavian Design Alliance I visited Iceland Design Centre – Hönnunarmidstöd – where we had a meeting with the managing director Halla Helgadóttir, Auður Edda Jökulsdóttir- Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Jón Ásbergsson – Promote Iceland. The Swedish Ambassador Anders Ljunggren was also arranging a dinner event where we got a lot important design related connections.

We also made some study visits to schools with design profiles; Listahaskoli – Iceland Academy of the Arts, Taekniskolinn and Idnskolinn in Hafnarfjördur.

It is exciting with all the opportunities and stuff going on between Sweden and Iceland on different levels. As you understand, I had a very good trip – but also a very work intensive. Next time I gonna fit in some days off – just for looking around this beautiful country. Hopefully I will be back in September, and no matter what I will definately attend to the Design March 14-17 March 2013.

The lake next to the Hotel in Egilsstadir where the sea monster ”Lagarfljotsormurinn” hides – video proof

Hafnarfjördur Eystri

Fish Factory – www.fishfactory.org

Interior from the Fish Factory

The enthusiastic project manager of Creative Communities and a bunch of other design related projects on East Iceland – Lára Vilbergsdóttir.

In beginning of September I was the convener when the Swedish Association of Designers hosted the development meeting of Scandinavian Design Alliance, this time in Stockholm. As always it was very nice to see the colleagues in the working team and we really took big steps forward. It is a very exciting project that will mean a lot not for only Swedish design, but for all of Scandinavia and the nordic countries!

Participating on the meeting were except me from the Swedish Association of Designers, Lennart Eng, Charlie Norrman and Jenny Lindahl Persson from Svenska Tecknare, Rachel Troye and Vera Pahle from Grafill, Søren Yran and Jørgen Holo from Norske Industridesignere, Martin Larsen and Steinar Valade-Amland from Danish Designers.

Lucky enough we also got some quality time in the sun, before the sky opened up and the rain was pouring down…

My work within design has taken me to many places. I have seen a lot and learned more! That has given me a sound experience and insight to a lot of different areas, which in my opinion is also one of the key factors to understand and manage the design process. To gather knowledge about market aspects, materials, production techniques, and not at least about the users – the people who respond and connects to the products and services we develop.

My approach is to be open minded and not afraid to get involved in new areas. Besides doing commissions for clients, I also teach and give lectures in design related topics. I am engaged in regional development, creating business networks, promoting culture and creativity, and making meetings and events and so on.  In addition I am a member of the board in the Swedish Association of Designers where I am representative in international networks, and just recently I was elected to vice chairman of the board.

Well what can I say? I like to be involved and affect…  and I am very happy to get the opportunity to meet all the interesting and skilled people. And I look forward to upcoming exciting meetings and projects. But first I will try to squeeze in some holidays… enjoy the summer all of you out there!

Here is a picture of Carina Oscarsson elected to Chairman of the board for the Swedish Association of Designers and me, elected to vice chairman. From the annual meeting in June.

Just before the easter, I contributed in this Phorecast Session – Work Life in 2022 at Almega in Stockholm. The mission was ordered by Almega, Saco and Unionen, aiming to get input to the cooperation for the Swedish service sector - Tjänstesektorns samarbetsavtal. The participants were handpicked and I was one of them. We were divided into three teams, and we worked for three days. My team mates was Eva Ribbenhall and Lars Lundqvist. Very nice and skilled people! It seems we made a good team, since we after the presentations were designated from the jury as the winners! As a part of price we were invited to come back and present our scenario once again – this time for the leadership board of Tjänstesektorns samarbetsavtal. Very honoring…

Here is a pic of all of the participants.

I travel a lot, my clients are spread all over. But mostly to Stockholm, it is a very design intensive region where a lot happens. And because I am engaged in the Swedish Association of Designers I try to attend to important events and meetings. It is quite a lot interesting in the pipe line ahead. Next year Helsinki is World Design Capital 2012, and I last friday I met the committee from Finland at Svensk Form, exploring how we can collaborate more. Also I work close to SVID – Swedish Industrial Design Foundation, right now with a very exciting project –  I tell you more later…

Well – that’s about it at the moment… besides I am also on parental leave allowing me to spend more time together with my son. He is one year old now – time flies!!

When the Support Association for SVID had the annual general meeting it took place on SVT – Sveriges Television – the Swedish public service television company. I was there representing the Swedish Association of Designers. Besides the meeting we also got a presentation of the development and design process of the award winning web broadcasting service SVT Play.

Lisa Lindström, CEO from Doberman – the agency who has been involved in creating SVT Play – learned us more about digital service design and the work behind the scenes. Stefan Kervefors, production manager for SVT Play showed us the historic perspective and told us the story from the process. Also participating from SVT Erik Hedin, Peter Wissmar and Mats Liljengren.

Service Design is an interesting subject indeed - and it is very instructive to see how it can be implemented. Also it is thought-provoking how many services easily could be enhanced by putting in some knowledge about design and human centered interaction. SVT Play is a very good example of Service Design, proved by winning the award Design S last year, but there are also a lot of areas unexplored – not only connected to web and interaction design, but also to product design and all of the other everyday experiences we meet.

It is a lot of things going on right now. Last week I was in Denmark representing The Swedish Association of  Designers. I met my Scandinavian design colleagues from Danish Designers, NID and Grafill. We are working on SDA together – the Scandinavian Design Alliance, it will be a great cooperation between our organizations. I find it very motivating to work with this stuff…

From left Jørgen Holo – NID, Rachel Troye – Grafill, Charlie Norrman – Svenska Tecknare, Daniel Byström – Sveriges designer, Søren Yran – NID, Steinar Mowatt Valade-Amland and Karen Blincoe – Danish Designers.

Next week I am heading back to Copenhagen to meet a group from Iceland. This time for the school where I work – Nässjö Träcentrum. The school is engaged in a project aiming to develop the design- and wood related education on Iceland. I find it a perfect opportunity to spread the word about SDA and get new contacts.

And at last – som inspiring pics from Stockholm Furniture Fair Feb 8-12 and from Denmark.

See ya… D

Nice lamps…

Sara Larsson – A2 Design

Bolon

Marit Stigsdotter – Belysningsbolaget/bsweden

Francisco Gomez Paz & Paolo Rizzatto give us ”Hope”, Illums Bolighus

Strøget

Representing The Swedish Association of Designers, I was participating at The Design and Learning Conference 2010 i Brussels recently. The objective of the conference was to explore in depth the multiple relationships between design and learning from a policy making point of view.

The first part of the conference presented the potential of design from different views by keynote speakers within the area. Then the conference  focused on three major areas, learning design; design and education and design and culture corresponding broadly with the European Commission ongoing work on design; on education; and on the cultural and creative industries.

From the conclusions it was emphasized that design is an important sector and has an vital role within the creative economy, and that there will be a board within the Innovation Union for working out design policies for the future invests in innovation and creativity.

After the conference I also got a glimpse of our beautiful European capital, and experienced a fantastic Christmas spirit at the square Grand Place and bought some Belgian chocolate… yummy!