The world's foremost venue for Scandinavian design closes with over 35.000 visits

The Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair 2014, the world's foremost venue for Scandinavian design, concluded last February 8. This year's edition bubbled with energy and breathed optimism. Many exhibitors gave positive signals that the economy has turned.

“The mood at the Fair was very good. Many exhibitors gave positive signals that the industry is seeing better times and reported good business. We are also very pleased that a number of visitors as well as the press and media spoke of the show's maintained high standard, that it has a concentration of profiled companies in a manageable format, personal appeal and proximity to the designers”, said Cecilia Nyberg, Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair event manager.

This year's fair had a total of 35 654 visits from 90 countries. There were 756 international visitors, which is about 27% of the trade visitors. There is continued great interest from the press and media, with a total of 1129 accredited media representatives, including 339 from abroad. The fair drew 5036 design enthusiasts from the public, compared 4745 last year.

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair 2014 presented several innovations, including morphing of the Design Bar into a top-class restaurant created by designer Jens Fager and chef Tommy Myllymäki. Another successful innovation was the Stockholm Design Talks seminar series, which included several packed talks under the theme “Moving Forward”.

“The response has been fantastic. Both with large crowds at the debates and afterwards from the industry people who took part online/via video. The discussions were informed and very interesting every day, with topics ranging from the latest on the Scandinavian design scene to how to create a living furniture collection in 2014”, said Hanna Nova Beatrice, Editor-in-Chief of Residence magazine and moderator to several of the seminars.

The Fair's new Twelve area - where 12 established designers showed what was typical of their design language and conceptual vision - attracted much positive attention. A new trend was also in evidence: that of designer's taking their fate into their own hands as entrepreneurs. Other trends talked about at the Fair were the prevalence of wood, muted colors, skins and updated classics

ROJO; Stockholm, was an exhibition of the icons of Spanish design through RED companies, Association of Spanish Design Companies, where prestigious brands presented their most representative pieces in “red” and an exhibition space designed by Architecture -G.

In addition to the activities at Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm Design Week attracted many visitors to about 100 different events around the city.

The next Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair will be held on the February 3-7, 2015 at Stockholmsmässan.

Read more news related Sotckholm Furniture & Light Fair published at Infurma