PROJECTS

Good things come from taking risks and cabinetmaker Karolina Stenfelt certainly took a risk when she gave me free hands to design her journeyman project at Carl Malmsten School of Furniture. Our latest design project at NOTE Design Studio was the ”Marginal Notes exhibition” and it was anything but the easy way out and this complex project turned out to be nothing less.

The brief was to design a desk that didn’t reveal everything at first glance and would stand out in a discreet way.

The choice of a desk was the result of that a journeyman project demands certain elements of construction and functions to be accepted for judgment by the jury.

I designed an architects ”black box” desk that combined the old analogue approach of built-in rulers and sketchpaper rolls with new needs like USB and power outlets.

”Pine is fine” is a shared motto of Karolina and Kristoffer and his idea of basing the desk solely on Swedish pine truly put the cabinet maker Karolina to the test. And if that wasn’t enough he wanted to use charred wood as surface finish. Pine is a soft material and the charring was hopefully going to give the wood a hardened surface. There was no approved technique for charring pine veneer and especially no approved technique to create and conform the intricate intarsia pattern that covers the desk. Weeks of experimenting with burning veneer finally gave results and the work could commence.

Contrast was the keyword through the project. Pine is a versatile material and Kristoffer wanted the desk to express pine from its very best side to its very ”worst”.

The exterior is covered with the experimental burned veneer in a fishbone pattern and when you open the desk the inside is covered with the finest selection of golden pine in the same pattern.

Kristoffer designed a tar burned steel frame to carry the ”black box”. The tar burning of the steel covered the shiny welding forges along with the rest of the frame with a varied sooted surface.

Custom made brass fittings as locks, rulers and hinges gleam against the sooted surface, referring to the fire used for burning the veneer.

Cabinet maker Karolina Stenfelt and NOTE Design studio investigates the possibilites of developing a limited edition series of the desk.

Photos by Mattias Nero

The bench, originated from the Konstfacks outdoor café project, has evolved into a product carefully developed by NOLA industrier. The PYLON bench.

This sleek seat is based on a traditional bench shape, wich has been dramatically transformed into a strikingly futuristic design. Taking inspiration from the pylon towers that support power lines we constructed the base of the bench from twin uprights that anchor the seat to the floor. Two layers of thick pine slats are glued together to form the seat, which is gripped between the upper reaches of the base supports. Pylon is a perfect complement to high-design interiors and cutting-edge architecture, or any setting where design takes centre stage. A one seater version is also available.

Designed by: Kristoffer Fagerström A&D  & Marcus Abrahamsson
Photo by: Jann Lipka
Produced by: NOLA industrier

O.P Oskar Persson konst & ramar, today.

I’m proud to be a part of the reopening of Oskar Persson konst och ramar. With Ulf Paulsson as the new owner of the renowned gallery in central Helsingborg, I redesigned the O.P brand including a new graphic profile along with new interior custom  designed for the O.P store.

Divisible expo desks.

Client: O.P Oskar Persson konst & ramar
Photos: Lisa Paulsson

My fling with danish fifties aesthetics led to this graceful coffe / magazine table for Maze Interior. These prototypes were first exhibited at Furniture Fair 2010. The table has since then gone through som changes and will be launched at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2011.

Client: Maze Int.
Date: 2010
Photo: Kent Johansson

For more info, visit www.mazeint.nu.

The FRAME bench evolves and grows a support for the back. FRAME Sofa feat. Swedish Pine. Prototype stage 2009.

Designed by Kristoffer Fagerström & Marcus Abrahamsson, FAGERSTRÖM & ABRAHAMSSON.

Photo by Marcus Abrahamsson

Konstfack outdoor café with the furniture concept FRAME.
Bachelorwork (2009) Collaboration with Marcus Abrahamsson.

Text from spring exibition catalouge:
How can Konstfack communicate its inner soul in its external space?

On the basis of our new professional role as interior architects and furniture designers, in our degree project we have taken on Konstfacks outdoor café. The project has been an opportunity to work on this location as a whole and to design a series of site specific items of outdoor furniture.
The current concrete floor, which is part of the main entrance to Konstfack, has been converted from a windy no mans land to a well kept and pleasant outdoor café. Through clear choices of materials and generous design we have made it into a place for relaxation and spending time together in the sun. No pretentions, just a nice lunch in pleasant company.
With the aim of creating an interdisciplinary space, we have created a framework that lets the space react to influences and allows it to change over time. In the future when the wood content of this framework is worn out it is up to the current students to decide the content. By this we hope that the space will develop into a collage of materials. We are leaving something behind us that not only represents us and Konstfack at present but can also represent Konstfack in the future…

The galvanized FRAMES filled with untreated Swedish pine.

The perforation separates the heavy duty FRAMES from the concrete floor through the use of light and reflections.

The FRAME bench filled with Multicolored Swedish pine.

The FRAME parasolls allows the students to easily change the fabric.

The Outdoor Cafe at Konstfack was recently awarded with I.D:s Design Destinction Award at I.D Annual Design Review 2010.

“It shows that with a very simple set of materials—and without changing them much—you can create this playful, optimistic situation.” –Judge Manuel Miranda

Designer: FAGERSTRÖM & ABRAHAMSSON, Kristoffer Fagerström & Marcus Abrahamsson
Thanks to: Felix, Jimmy, our photographer LillyMay, and our sponsors: Södra Timber, Tibnor SALS and Ferex

New kitchen and dining area for post-production house The Chimney Pot in Stockholm.

During the work with the new dining for the ChimneyPot I custom made a high-stand table for the kitchen.

Project: Dining Area
Client: The Chimney Pot
Year: 2008

Elsa was a typical swede of her generation, she was born 1913 in Svedala in the south of Sweden. Under poor circumstances she grew up working as a maid. She got married to a successful engineer and followed him, during the industrial era, to Stockholm, the capitol of Sweden. In the early seventies her husband Per died and left her with two young adults, my father and his sister.

Me and my father met in her apartment. We started to go through her kitchenwares, furnitures and clothes and sorted them in piles. The keep pile, the throw pile and the ”don’t know” pile. Elsa always took great pride in her new life. Far from her childhood living conditions, her material belongings meant a great deal to her.
The ”don’t know” pile grew bigger and consisted mostly of bedsheets, tablecloths and different textile products. Neither my father nor me wanted them but we couldn’t throw them away. Carefully sewn pillow sheets, with hand stitched embroideries lay among linen table cloths with her beautiful silk initials, EF.

Theese sheets represented a part of my cultural heritage and the only way for me to honor the labor and time that my grandmother had invested in them was to invest the same amount of time to preserve them.

I created a chair for contemplation. Each chair I make has it´s own history and wears the marks of past generations. This chair has the initials A L, who was he or she?

The chair project is named after my Elsa. I still have her number at speed-dial on my phone. Why can’t I erase it?

Technical info:

The frame is made out of bent and welded steel thread. The construction technique is inspired from the the swedish birch tree with its thin black irregular branches. The irregularity makes the chair change its appearance depending on the point of view. The seating is filled with goose down to get the authentic feel of old down pillows.

Height: 80 cm
Width: 60 cm
Depth: 85 cm

Inspired by the building materials from the industrialism this table was designed and built for a private client. Material: Steel L-profiles and pinewood

Early 3D sketches

The table takes form…

The 3,5 meter long and 1,1 meters wide table alows 12 seatings.

Client: Private client
Date: 2008
Photo: Lilly-May
Location: Nybrogatan, STOCKHOLM

Gösta is the result of an ongoing project where I’ve been experimenting with low energi lamps and the problems that occur due to these lamps bad color reproduction. How could I bring a similarly warm feeling to the light from a low energy lamp that I can get from a classic light bulb? If I could achive the same color experience from a low energy lamp I could really inspire people to the use of low energy lamps and in an effect of that lower their electricity consumtion and in the end, of course, help to save our environment. With a graphic and attractive design to sell the concept I hope to inspire a increased usage of low energy lamps.

SEEKING PRODUCER

My ambition was to enlighten the value of time spent. Hour after hour I colored the simple stool with a thin marker. It became  an act of love, I now know every inch of that stool.

Date: 2008
Photo: Kristoffer Fagerström
Location: DESIGNGALLERIET, STOCKHOLM