Timber iQ February - March 2020 // Issue: 48 | Page 6

NEWS
Swedish design
takes centre stage
By Swedish Wood
In partnership with industry organisation Swedish Wood, two Swedish
alumni of Beckmans College of Design have created a pine kitchen for one
of the guest apartments at the Swedish Institute in Paris.
T
he kitchen is part of the Swedish Institute’s
refurbishment programme aimed at raising the
profile of Swedish design in Paris. The guest
apartments were unveiled on 7 September during Paris
Design Week.
“We wanted to create a comforting space, so we hit on
the idea of trying to embody the restfulness of a pink
womb. With the help of paint and pine, we were able to
create a kitchen where you’re surrounded by warmth
and the intensity of the flesh tone,” explains design duo
Lisa Lindh and Klara Hedengren, who came up with the
concept for the kitchen.
The Swedish Institute in Paris is refurbishing its six
guest apartments in order to give them a stronger
design profile, with a focus on Swedish design and
craftsmanship, sustainability, innovation and quality.
The project goes by the name Swedish Design Moves
and Hem x 6. One of the kitchens, with its modern pink
pine units, was designed by Lisa Lindh and Klara
Hedengren, Swedish alumni of Beckmans College of
Design in Stockholm.
The design duo from Beckmans were commissioned by
the Swedish Institute to bring a natural feel to a galley
kitchen that doesn’t really go together with the rest of
the building, which is full of history, art and life. Taking
inspiration from female artists who have previously
made their mark in the apartments of the Swedish
Institute in Paris, they created a kitchen that is at once
beautiful and practical. The rounded worktop now
invites conversation with the person doing the cooking
and can even serve as a desk early in the morning.
“Lisa and Klara have done a fantastic job; they’ve really
managed to transform the corridor into a harmonious
place where you want to hang out. It’s also interesting
to see how they’ve played with the contrasts between
the white wood interior and the pink exterior,” says
Björn Nordin, director of interior and design at
Swedish Wood.
A pine kitchen was designed for one of the guests at the Swedish
Institute in Paris.
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FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020 //
“Pine is a wonderfully attractive and accessible
material, and one that we’ve both worked with before.
The two of us are passionate about bringing
sustainability into our designs and working with
Swedish wood makes total sense from that
perspective, while also being a great aesthetic choice,”
says Lisa Lindh and Klara Hedengren.
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