A whole Lotta style

Huighway star

Wood is on point. It’s also environmentally and financially sustainable. The culture centre Sara in Skellefteå and the residential building Glitne in Umeå have shown us new ways of building in wood.

It started with a tent sauna for mountain huts in a roadless land. Then artist Per Enoksson lit a fire underneath a bathtub in the great wide open. Soon thereafter, his brand Hikki was born, with focus on products for bathing, relaxing, recreation and outdoor cooking. Today, people from Japan to the UK enjoy warm plunges in his hot tubs.

At the Umeå Institute of Design, students are busy sketching the smart cars of the future. And Skellefteå will soon see the opening of the battery factory set to power them. ”The car has always been a symbol of freedom and independence”, says Demian Horst, professor at the Institute of Design.

Warm colours, soft shapes and an organic flow through the room that reduce the feeling of vulnerability. Through her project Meno Clinic, Mathilda Karlsson aims to make visits to the gynaecologist more pleasant.

The Bildmuseet in Umeå is hosting an exhibition on the challenges of our time, showcasing hairy skyscrapers, habitable power stations and a bright red building inspired by glow worms. “Artists, designers and architects can find solutions that we never knew possible”, says curator Anders Jansson.

She has nothing against black. But it’s the bold colours that put the swing in Wanja Djanaieff ’s design. ”If I were to write music, it would be happy and dancy, there wouldn’t be a lot of minor scale”, she says.