After a three-year COVID hiatus, Stockholm Design Week returned in full force last week. And while we’ll be covering the fair and its happenings around town tomorrow, today we’re putting the spotlight on a new exhibition that also happened to be our favorite. Called Älvsjö Gärd, it was a showcase of experimental, research-driven, and collectible design, set across 13 rooms in one of the oldest manors in Stockholm — basically Sight Unseen catnip. Against a backdrop of herringbone floors, masonry stoves, and darkly painted or wallpapered walls, several galleries and independent studios set up shop. There was Kiosken and Pyton from Norway, Tableau from Copenhagen, and Coulisse Gallery from Stockholm, among others; among the highlights were a group show from Tableau called Funct Feast, which focused on art and design works that were functional as well as fantastical, and an exhibition curated by the fair’s project manager, Hanna Nova Beatrice. Called New Narratives, the room featured some of the most interesting work we saw last week including an intricately assembled wooden table by Fredrik Paulsen and the always nearly unclassifiable work of Mattias Sellden. Elsewhere, the artist Fredrik Nielsen showcased his glass work against a neon background, reprising an exhibition he created with Wetterling Gallery for Loewe in 2022, and the duo Matsson Marnell debuted their wooden collection, inspired by the natural forest and handmade in Sweden by renowed woodworker Moa Brännström Ott.

Top image: Kiosken Studio with paintings by Anine Aasen, trolley by Stine Aas and Tekla Evelina Severin, table by Studio Sandland, and sculptures by Kine Ulvestad and Merete Rein

Kiosken Studio

Kiosken Studio with paintings by Anine Aasen, trolley by Stine Aas and Tekla Evelina Severin, table by Studio Sandland, and sculptures by Kine Ulvestad and Merete Rein

Table and chairs by Ali Shah Gallefoss, painting by Anine Aasen 

Sculpture by Ali Shah Gallefoss, painting by Anine Aasen 

Candleholders by Kine Ulvestad

Tableau

New Narratives

Aluminum chair by Nick Ross; spiral table by Fredrik Paulsen; room divider, candelabra, and small chair by David Taylor; marbled table by Marco Guazzini

Lab La Bla

Table and chairs by Stamuli; glass sculptures by Asa Jungnelius

Chair by Alexander Lervik, sculpture by Asa Jungnelius, floor lamp by Jenny Norberg

Sculpture by Mattias Sellden, chair by Magniberg

Floor lamp by Erik Bratsberg, bedside table by Folkform

Sculpture by Mattias Sellden, table and lamp by Axel Wannberg, candlesticks by Hanna Hansdotter

Chairs by David Ericsson

Axel Wannberg

Fredrik Nielsen

Matsson Marnell

Kasja Melchior

Navet

Coulisse Gallery

Pyton