Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture & Design Special – Sweden
OPPO by Stefan Borselius.
In search of the unexpected Next to the Baltic Sea, Blå Station produces outstanding solutions for our homes and public spaces. Fuelled by curiosity, its creative designers continue to deliver the unexpected.
laborations, but rather an approach. On the contrary, several designers have had their first product placed here.
By Malin Norman | Photos: Blå Station
Lindau delves deeper into Blå Station’s design philosophy, with its designers elaborating on the potential of future design here and now. “Innovation, function and sustainability are paramount – you have to be able to use the products. Our furniture has functionality; they are not pieces of art, and they need to be sustainable, to live on for 20, 30, 40 years or longer, both from a user and a visual perspective.”
In a former sewing factory in Åhus, on the southeast coast of Sweden, Blå Station is creating its magic. The company was first set up in 1986 by designer Börge Lindau and launched alongside the praised Oblado furniture collection. Ever since, siblings Mimi Lindau and Johan Lindau have been immersed in the task of making a difference in the market by creating and producing designs that are something out of the ordinary. “We never ask the market what it wants or needs,” says Mimi Lindau. “We manufacture the kind of furniture that we like ourselves and that deserves a place on 130 | Issue 105 | October 2017
the market. Instead of looking at trends, we notice environments and how people move in them, what functionality is missing and needed. People live differently nowadays; furniture needs to be flexible.”
3D innovation in chairs The range of designs includes so-called environmental furniture such as stools, chairs, benches, armchairs, sofas and tables. Some can be piled up, connected and twisted, and others can be cleverly adapted and used both indoors and outdoors. Blå Station uses both Swedish and foreign designers, not necessarily looking for famous names for its col-
Clearly, Blå Station takes on seemingly impossible challenges both technically and commercially. An interesting example is the acclaimed Dent chair by o4i, a collaboration that has succeeded in 3D-forming ordinary veneer into a