This visit we decided to stay at Hotel Skeppsholmen. Located a little off the beaten track, the hotel is nestled on a small island surrounded by water and trees.  I found this beneficial since we spend so much time running around and having meetings, a dose of nature helped take the edge off.

This has been one of my most positive hotel experience to date. It’s the type of place that is exceptionally pleasant, where the staff go out of their way to be generous and kind—I really felt taken care of.

The hotel restaurant is excellent. Not only do they offer a free breakfast buffet that is actually fresh and delicious, their lunch and dinner menus are also very good. After a shockingly long day’s travel (a flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm, with no delays, seemed to take us from 8am to 2pm!), we had the best steak and fries I’ve had in a long time.

The hotel is designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune, whom we’ve exhibited and worked with in the past. We were given a spacious room with a view of the water. It had no blackout blinds–which normally would bother me but in this case there wasn’t so much artificial light outside–yet we had such a wonderful deep sleep, and were awoken naturally by the rising sun every morning. Most importantly, it was incredibly quiet.

The walk to the hotel isn’t so bad either.

Over at Svenskt Tenn, there was a special design week show featuring lighting by Harri Koskinen. Inspired by Philodendrons, with a play on light and shadow.

 

Furnishing Utopia was at the fair. Our production of Hallgeir Homstvedt’s Doverail Mirror / Shelf and Toolboxes were on display, along with a lovely selection of Shaker objects and new Shaker inspired design pieces.

Mayor Sofa by Arne Jacobsen for &Tradition in a new colour. We’ll be getting one in the showroom in a few months. Also the Palette Table by Jaime Hayon for &Tradition dressed in new materials.

Catch Lounge Chair by Jaime Hayon, one will be arriving in our showroom in the spring. On the right, some new accessories from &Tradition, like the Tricolore glass vases and the brass 721 grams stackable and interchangeable candle holders.

Tea time at Ett Hem.

Artek and Norwegian designer Daniel Rybakken team up for the installation “124° – Artek on Skeppsholmen” and a new collection.

L: Kiila coat stand and rack.
R: Riihitie Plant Pot, designed 1937 by Aino Aalto (new production)

Classic tables and chairs in new colours, and shapes that can be put together to make a larger conference table.

124° wall mounted mirrors. Two faces are placed 124 degrees apart creating an unexpected dual-aspect reflection of the surrounding space.

A whirlwind as usual, we missed a lot of events and were passing ships with many of our favourite people.