With scenes from Swedish everyday life, creative and egalitarian Swedish design will be showcased in various Swedish rooms in the middle of the vibrant Brera district in Milan.
Behind the initiative is Visit Sweden and several Swedish design actors, companies and tourist regions.
The Swedish lifestyle creates curiosity among foreign travelers, and much of today's Swedish design is characterized by Swedish everyday life and lifestyle.
That is why Sweden is taking its place in the middle of the Brera fashion and design district during the annual Milan Design Week, an international gathering point for the design world. In a unique venue with staged environments, Swedish design companies are given a platform to show their news to trend-setters and media from all over the world. Together with the design objects in a textile dreamscape, impressions are created in different rooms of an imagined Swedish home – a hallway, a living room, a bathroom, a kitchen – where the impression is that someone has just gotten up and gone out. The exhibition opens with a press screening on Monday, April 16.
Visit Sweden, together with Svensk Form, the Swedish Association of Architects, the Swedish Wood and Furniture Companies and the Swedish Fashion Council/Association of Swedish Fashion Brands, is committed to getting more people to open their eyes to Sweden and want to experience Swedish design on site. The initiative in Milan is a collaboration with around 40 exciting Swedish design companies as well as the Halland Region, the Västra Götaland Region and the Municipality of Umeå. Increased attention for Sweden will also contribute to increasing Swedish exports of design products.
– Swedish design is made to be used by everyone, while being both creative and beautiful. It stands out compared to other countries and is another reason for foreign tourists to become curious about Sweden as a travel destination, says Michael Persson Gripkow, Chief Brand and Strategic Marketing Officer at Visit Sweden.
The exhibition HEMMA – Stories of Home features objects such as the Kolonn screen by Beckman students Klara W Hedengren and Lisa Lindh, the Palais tables for Asplund by Anya Sebton and Eva Lilja Löwenhielm and the Hoop ceiling lamp by Front for Zero. Cake is showing the recently launched and acclaimed electric motocross bike Kalk. Throughout the week, the exhibition will be shown to influential journalists and trendsetters, buyers and industry representatives from all over the world. Umeå School of Design invites you to open conversations about design and architecture. Visit Sweden expects a major impact in the media and thousands of visitors to the exhibition.
– In Milan it is important to penetrate the flood of design and we are really doing that this year with the overall experience in focus and with the best location in town in trendy Brera. The interest from companies has been very high, says Mats Widbom, CEO of Svensk Form, which together with Visit Sweden is organizing HEMMA.
The feeling of Sweden as a destination is reinforced with food and drink from different parts of the country. Among other things, a tasting of Swedish beer from microbreweries will be arranged. International media will also receive tips on design experiences in Sweden and the geographical origins of the participating companies will be highlighted.
The exhibition has been designed by the interior design studio Joyn Studio.
Visit Sweden has been running the Swedish Design Moves initiative for two years together with Svensk Form, Sveriges Arkitekter, Trä- och Möbelföretagen and Swedish Fasion Council/Association of Swedish Fashion Brands on behalf of the government. The visibility for Sweden in Milan is a continuation of the marketing that created attention in Milan, New York, London and Paris as well as in international media in 2017.
