WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OF 2017?
I hope Trump as president won’t affect us too much,
but I’m worried of course. I’m gearing up a bit as a designer,
with a new employee and a soon-to-be-finished new studio
at my home in Böste, near Smygehuk at the southern
tip of Sweden.
WHERE DO YOU HUNT FOR NEW IDEAS?
As a designer, you turn on a kind of analytical gaze when
travelling the world. You wonder how that chair is built, how
it is used, how it could be made differently every time you
enter a café, a restaurant or a public space. Peekaboo was
an answer to the new open office where there is often a
lack of private space.
BEST RESTAURANT?
Food is really taken seriously at Daniel Berlin in Skåne
Tranås, one of the best restaurants in Sweden. It’s not a
place where you can afford to go regularly, but the flavours,
the serving and the fresh ingredients really stimulate, inspire
and focus your senses. It’s an experience worth comparing
to a good theatre play or
encountering different cultures.
WHAT LIGHTENS YOUR MOOD?
I listen to Swedish and English stand-up along with all sorts
of music when I draw my designs. Humour and joy
contribute to your creativity just like a good glass of wine.
Stefan Borselius is one of Sweden’s most prominent
contemporary designers. He has trained as a
carpenter at the Steneby School, as a designer at
the Carl Malmsten School, and holds a master’s
degree from Konstfack, the University College of
Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. With a keen
interest in historic designs, he creates furniture, lights
and textiles inspired by new lifestyles and new
working environments. All of his work is marked
by an attention to proportions and details, and he
methodically and whole-heartedly pushes the
boundaries of what can be produced, without
leaving anything to chance. ‘I presented my
journeyman piece exactly 100 years after my
grandfather’s father did the same, but although I
felt at ease with carpentry, I wanted to learn how
to create and draw my own forms.’
The Oppo chair for Blå Station, 2009, fuses
technical and emotional functionality in a soft, cushy
friendly form. Stefan has received numerous awards
including the Red Dot: Best of the Best Award,
2004. He is represented in the design collection at
the National Museum, Stockholm. Many Swedish
design companies in lighting, textile, and acoustic
products are among his clients, and most of all Blå
Station, for whom he has created modern design
icons such as Peekaboo, Wilmer and Oppo as
well as Sting, designed with Fredrik Mattson.
STEFAN
Stefan Borselius
POPPE | Stefan Borselius + Bernstrand & Lindau 2015
