Sweden needs more avant-garde design, according to curator Paola Bjäringer who has brought together eight women designers for an experimental Stockholm Design Week exhibition.
Housed in a former factory in the heart of Stockholm, the Misschiefs Takeover exhibition champions a more diverse and experimental approach to design than Sweden is traditionally known for.
Designers including Lotta Lampa, Kajsa Willner and Monica Förster have created a range of offbeat, self-motivated pieces that include characterful glass totems, a flame-like fibreglass bench and a series of slush-cast vases.
Paola Bjäringer founded Misschiefs in 2020 as a feminist collective
Misschiefs started out as a feminist collective, launched by Bjäringer in early 2020. The Swedish curator had recently moved to Stockholm, having spent most of her life in France, and was shocked by the lack of diversity visible in the city's design scene. "I thought it was quite male, boring and white," she told Dezeen. "I wanted to present a more punk side of Swedish design."
The Misschiefs Takeover exhibition features the work of eight women designers
As Bjäringer got to know the city better, she found that the variety was there ? it just needed a better platform.
Although she hadn't intended to focus exclusively on women, the curator found that female designers were producing some of the most exciting ideas. So she decided to form Misschiefs as a collective of "womxn", inclusive of tran...