PROFILE
01
Stefan Lindfors, Chameleon Creative Ever since his “Scaragoo” lamp was introduced at the Milan Furniture Fair in 1988 by Ingo Maurer, Stefan Lindfors has completed hundreds of projects – as designer, architect, artist and more – for companies like Alessi, Amnesty, Arabia, Artek, Iittala, Ikea, Ingo Maurer, Marimekko, Nokia, Sony Playstation, Swatch, Vitra, and Warner Music. Jeff Bickert
courtesy of stefan lindfors
S
tefan Lindfors graduated as Interior Architect & Furni-
predator or instead become predator and prey on some-
ture Designer from the University of Art and Design Hel-
thing more vulnerable than itself.
sinki (UIAH), Finland in 1988. In 1992, the jury of the Väinö
The chameleon makes any circumstance or environment
Tanner Trailblazer Award – the largest cultural award in the
his own. And Stefan Lindfors may indeed be – between the
Nordic countries – called Lindfors a Renaissance Man. That
predator and the prey – the predator, but a creatively be-
same year, the Times of London wrote: “Calling Lindfors an
nevolent and prolific one. Lindfors, does not, however, work
Industrial Designer would be like calling a Stravinsky Sym-
to adapt per se to his task, client or environment; instead he
phony a nice song.”
appropriates the language, rules and conditions that come with the task at hand and produces a response distinctly his
In a similar vein, calling someone a chameleon is something
own.
of a mixed blessing; it carries both positive and affirmative
72
as well as negative and cynical associations. Chameleons
One might say he breaks or changes the rules; then again
change to adapt to their surroundings, to camouflage them-
one might say he simply goes and creates new ones. In ac-
selves in order to go undetected, whether to hide from a
tual fact he espouses a set of ten rules he calls his ‘Moses’,
GORENJE LIFE STYLE MAGAZINE