Colorful Design Bar created by Fredrik Paulsen

Genre-defying designer Fredrik Paulsen has been commissioned to create the Design Bar for Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, February 4–8, 2020. The menu this time round will be composed by chefs Marion Ringborg and Linn Söderström from pop-up restaurant Garba.

The Design Bar continues to explore contemporary aesthetics and gastronomy. Just off the Entrance Hall, the Victoria Hall hosts the fusion of a design exhibition and top-class restaurant with the stage for the Stockholm Design & Architecture Talks – a cross-pollination that this year takes on a fun fair-inspired look, created by unorthodox designer Fredrik Paulsen.
“Stockholm can be bleak in February, so I want to transport visitors to the place of their dreams. I’ve looked at the promenades of the French Riviera, bars on the Balearic Islands, casinos in Las Vegas and amusement parks such as Coney Island. I’m hoping to design a meeting place where people feel welcome and inspired.”

Paulsen takes an experimental and multidisciplinary approach to the work he does in his studio in Örnsberg, just south of Stockholm. He creates one-off objects in a blaze of color, elevating cheap materials with artisanal care. When Röhsska in Gothenburg reopened last spring, the museum gave his work a separate exhibition – an installation that resulted in the Röhsska chair, produced by Blå Station.
“Fredrik Paulsen’s design tackles modern the challenges of contemporary times,” comments Cecilia Nyberg, Project Area Manager of Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.
“We love his questioning attitude to consumption and his capacity to navigate the borders between design and art.”
“When I was offered the opportunity to create the Design Bar, my first thought was ‘have they dialed the wrong number?’,” says Paulsen.
“But then I realized that the way I work is perfect for the task. I like to create a strong overall design, and I prefer to begin with an idea about a party or an exhibition rather than an individual product.”

With him are chefs Marion Ringborg and Linn Söderström. The Stockholm-based duo run Garba, an experimental restaurant with no fixed address that pops up wherever there is space – be it empty shops, renovation projects or art galleries.
“Fredrik had been to one of our pop-up restaurants and liked the anarchic mix of dishes from different cultures. Plus all the greens of course. We use vegetables as often as we can. This creates a gorgeous visual that I think he sees as a good match for his colorful style,” says Marion Ringborg.
“And we also share the ambition of creating spatial connections,” says Linn Söderström.
“We try to encourage social interaction by serving the food on long tables, where everyone takes from the same plate and pours from the same carafe. It’s the way we love to eat. We like it to be a bit chaotic.”

For more information please visit www.stockholmfurniturefair.com or contact:
Cecilia Nyberg, Project Area Manager, tel +46 8 749 43 86, cecilia.nyberg@stockholmsmassan.se
Carolina Ekman, Press Officer, Stockholmsmässan, + 46 8 749 41 35, carolina.ekman@stockholmsmassan.se