Truly, madly, Scandi Tru S l c y, a m n a d d i ly, It’s ubiquitous, endlessly appealing and perfectly suited for modern life – yet the story of Nordic minimalism is more complex than its simple design might suggest Words: Rachel Ogden D epending on who you ask, there’s a host of household names jostling to take credit for popularising Scandinavian design in our homes. Some point to the so-called ‘golden age’ from the 1930s onwards, when designers such as Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, Hans J Wegner, Maija Isola, Poul Henningsen and Verner Panton helped to define the genre with now instantly recognisable products. Others go back further, citing a magazine launched in 1914 by the Danish Selskabet for Dekorativ Kunst (Company for Decorative Arts), which promoted crafts and accessible design rather than the Art Nouveau style that had previously been in vogue. One thing most can agree on is when the design movement expanded exponentially beyond its birthplace of the Scandinavian and Nordic countries: during the 1950s when its simplicity, minimalism and functionality gained global appeal. A touring exhibition called Design in Scandinavia put Scandi design on the map in the US and Canada between 1954 and 1957, while American notables including the Eames couple, and MoMA’s Edgar Kaufmann Jr, promoted and inspired Scandi designers. In part, this success may have been helped by Scandi design being exactly what the world was looking for, post-WWII: an antidote to Nazi-era design totalitarianism, instead with a natural focus on the home and family. A design staple While its popularity temporarily declined during the excesses of the 1980s and the eclecticism of the 1990s, since then Scandi has gone from strength to strength, morphing into a multitude of interpretations with mass-market appeal. Few homes are complete without a trip to the Swedish-founded world’s-largest- furniture-retailer. The result is that it’s a design staple in many countries rather than a trend. Why this has happened lies at the very root of what Scandinavian design is: where it comes from, what makes it special and what the future might hold for it. 18 Magazine 04
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