Nils Faarlund is a legendary Norwegian eco-philosopher, mountaineer and a great friend of nature. We spoke to him about the Norwegian term for outdoors life, Friluftsliv, natural materials and design.
# How would you explain the Norwegian term friluftsliv to English speakers?
In my opinion, outdoor activities in modern societies are responses to the stress, boredom and effort for building identity caused by an urban lifestyle.
Read MoreStockholm Design Week kicks off today, and we would like to invite you to a few special shows.
Read MoreFarger & Frukter is a short film for small children (0-99y) aiming to introduce the Wonderful World of Colours. Directed by Ann Holmgren and produced by Elementa collaborators at ^O^, the film is a contemporary nod to the rich tradition of experimental Scandinavian children television form the 1970's
Read MoreGrowlab is a small design studio truly dedicated to find new ways of making our cities better and more sustainable. Mads Pålsrud and Tabea Glahs founded Growlab in 2012 with a shared passion for solving social issues with design thinking. We went to talk to Mads and Tabea about how they use design and what they want to achieve with their approach.
Read MoreFor an exclusive night at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Stockholm the exhibition "A colour composition – New Norwegian design" will present the best of new Norwegian design and crafts today.
It will be carefully curated and exhibited in the historical building from 1953 by Norwegian architect Knut Knutsen. The exhibition will be curated and styled by the well-renowned duo Kråkvik & D’Orazio, and will be shown as part of an evening event exclusively for relevant design, architecture and lifestyle media and interior architects during Stockholm Design Week. It will be open to the public on Thursday the 9th and Friday the 10th of February.
Read MoreIn collaboration with the art group ^O^, in 2017 we are kicking off The Molecular Ballet - a project which intends to use music, performance and cinema to explore contemporary themes of design, technology and mind expansion.
Read MoreDanish design blog Scandinavian Standards have recently interviewed Jonas Stokkeabout the process behind the Elementa UN Divided furniture system.
Read MoreWe are happy to introduce Elementa MU, a series of minimalist panels that can be configured to elegantly control the acoustics of any room.
With 6 different sized rectangular and square shapes, 2 thicknesses - and lots of colour options, the possibilities for expression are really endless.
Read MoreJens Dyvik is a dedicated designer and an advocate for communal workshops. For two years Jens has been visiting, and working, in more than 30 different Fab labs, makerspaces and hackerspaces around the world, while making the documentary “Making Living Sharing”. Now Jens is one of the forces behind Fellesverkstedet in Oslo, and an expert in digital fabrication, so we went to fellesverkstedet to talk with Jens about the maker movement, and the importance of sharing your ideas and designs.
Read MoreIn the new exhibition at OCA, language and technology common to the field of science fiction creates the backdrop to an exploration of human nature and how we position ourselves in an ever-expanding environment.
A painting from 1922 by the seminal Indian modernist Gaganendranath Tagore serves as a vantage point for the exhibition. The painting, which is loosely based on what is known as a preliminary science fiction story written in the Bengali language, depicts the ascending of a humanized entity to a celestial or spatial sphere removed of its earthly bounds
Read MoreValchromat is a very exciting material - and an excellent alternative to chipboard and MDF. Made with wood waste at a plant with zero carbon emission, its environmental credentials are pretty outstanding.
It is even 30% stronger than MDF and is coloured through with organic dyes, providing for stronger furniture where scratches and wear are less visible. It is non-toxic, emission free and is even approved for contact with food.
Nils Faarlund er en legendarisk norsk tenker, tindevegleder og naturvenn. Han er grunnleggeren av Norges Høgfjellsskole, gammel taukamerat av Arne Næss - og litt av en grufull klegg for de av oss som lider under vrangforestillingen om at vi kan forbruke oss ut av gjørma.
Vi har snakket med Nils om vesentligheten av å skille mellom miljøvern og naturvern, om stillhet og om hva vi som designere kan lære av naturen.
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