Scan Magazine | Special Theme | The Best Christmas Gifts From Sweden
Elegantly un-Scandinavian With experience of working for Sweden’s renowned glass and crystal brands and an urge to design beautiful, useful items for the home, Belinda Wigerfelt and Caroline Melin are showing that Scandinavian design can be more than minimalist simplicity. Dekohem offers everyday luxury in the form of elegant, classical interior items for the modern home. By Linnea Dunne | Photos: Dekohem
“The starting point is always something we ourselves miss,” says Belinda Wigerfelt. The collection of interior design items she and her business partner Caroline Melin have brought to life is a far cry from the typical Scandinavian design range: less minimal and stripped back, more classically elegant with graphic patterns. With recent interior design trends showing mustier colours and bold patterns, you could perhaps say that Wigerfelt and Melin were one step ahead. Not that the designer herself would ever put it that way; she is not exactly one to boast. 38 | Issue 106 | November 2017
The pair have been friends since primary school and worked together for many years before they decided to try their luck as business partners. Wigerfelt studied interior architecture and design in the UK and has always had a knack for creativity and form, while Melin has worked with sales, communication and service for a number of international businesses, including in the hotel, travel, entertainment and interior design sectors – always guided by an eye for creativity and trends. After working together for one of the leading glass and crystal producers in Scandinavia, with brands including
Iittala and Rörstrand, they decided to venture into e-commerce to sell glass and crystal products online. “People kept telling us that it wouldn’t work – that it’d lead to price dumping and the products would break in the post,” Wigerfelt recalls. “We know now, of course, that that wasn’t the case.”
Creating future design classics But the two entrepreneurs were missing the creative process and wanted to design products of their own, and so, just over two years ago, Dekohem saw the light of day. “We are inspired by different styles and trends from different periods of time within both fashion and interior design, and we get more inspiration from abroad than we do from within Scandinavia. We really wanted something that would feel new and exciting here in Sweden,” says Wigerfelt. “After a while, when you’ve been looking at all the Scandinavian interior de-