Surprising Side of Scandinavian Design

Filed under: Color, Design, etc

Scandinavian interiors aren't all just shades of white and pale wood - color is alive and well in these northern countries.


When most people think of Scandinavian design, they think of white, open spaces filled with pale, blonde wood furniture and not much else in terms of color. However, this is just one side of Scandinavian style. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark all have their own styles, all of which celebrate light, but they are all also fond of color. ShelterPop talked to interior designer Lars Bolander, who recently penned Lars Bolander's Scandinavian Design, about the history and use of color in Scandinavian design

According to Bolander, the exteriors of Scandinavian homes have had an influence on color preferences. Bolander points to Sweden's 'Falun red' pigment, which was originally derived from copper mines near Falun and signified a family's prosperity. This exterior color remains popular today and has become an almost iconic ideal for a home in Scandinavia (and even in New England, where you see barns painted in similar red hues).

Inside, folk art has long brought color to the walls and furniture of Scandinavians' homes. In northern parts of Norway and Sweden, in particular, interior surfaces were painted with figurative scenes, often depicting significant events in a family's history, like a marriage or even a funeral. The ceiling mural above, for example, reveals that the home would have been owned by a seaman because of the references to the sea in the painting.

Later in the 18th century, Scandinavia developed a taste for porcelain from the East. The craze for porcelain eventually led Scandinavians to produce their own porcelain in Sweden's Rörstrand faience factory and Denmark's Royal Copenhagen company. The blue and white palette of these dishes remains popular today. For example, in a contemporary room in Stockholm, the fabric-covered walls reference iconic dish patterns.

Bolander also sites the Arts and Crafts movement and artist Carl Larsson as a tremendous influence on Scandinavian design at the end of the 19th century until the present day. Larsson's 1899 book Ett Hem (A Home), which was filled with bright, colorful watercolors of a home filled with painted furniture and folk art, became an aspiration for many Scandinavians. Bolander and his co-author Heather Smith write that Larsson's own house "remains the model of an informal, comfortable and welcoming home."

Traditionally, Scandinavian textiles were subdued and subtle, but all that changed in the post-war period of the 50s and 60s. Josef Frank in Sweden and Marimekko in Finland both introduced bold, colorful and graphic textiles that became a hallmark of the period. The influence of Larsson's color palette is evident in Frank's designs, which often feature reds, greens and yellows favored by Larsson.

Today, Bolander notes that the bold prints of Marimekko are coming back into vogue. "It was dead for a very long time," says Bolander, but he notes, "Those bold colors are back again," citing the recent opening of a Marimekko shop-within-a-shop in Crate & Barrel. Bolander also says that contemporary art is playing a huge roll in today's Scandinavian interiors. "[Contemporary] art is very powerful," says Bolander, "You see it everywhere. It's like a disease in Scandinavia: They are all into contemporary art."

Looking forward, Bolander sees color preferences in Scandinavia continuing to evolve and change. "People have started to travel and get inspired by colors," says Bolander. "I remember the last Christmas and New Year, we went to India: The color combinations are just fantastic -- pink, yellow, blue, green and it works." Going forward, the colors of Scandinavia will be influenced by the whole globe.

For more on color, don't miss our Color Diary column:
- Painting Your Porch Ceiling
- Winning Combination: Turquoise and Poppy
- Decorating With Yves Klein Blue

 

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