Ilse Crawford, design icon, Guest of Honour at the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair is the world’s largest meeting place for Scandinavian furniture and lighting design. Domestic and international visitors will find the most comprehensive selection of Scandinavian furniture, office furnishings, design, textiles, lighting and other interior furnishings for both homes and public spaces. At this year’s event, held from 3-7 February, Guest of Honour Ilse Crawford will engage visitors with a series of questions. The exhibition-cum-lounge Questions time  is a place to sit and contemplate. In the busy environment of the fair, it allows for reflection and feedback.

“We want to slow people down and encourage them to think about the wider significance of the fair experience and all that is on show. The lounge will feel a bit like a studio – our studio in Bermondsey, south London. As well as long work benches, chairs and task lights, we will construct a giant cork wall. We will pin a series of large questions and on the tables will be notepads and marker pens and printers – the idea being that people sit, think, respond and pin their answer on the cork wall.” –Ilse Crawford

Ilse Crawford was born in London and started her career as a journalist. At the age of 27, she was commissioned to launch the British ELLE Decoration, and ten years later her career took her to New York, where she was a vice president at Donna Karan Home. She returned to London in 2001 and started her own design firm, Studioilse Creative Direction and Design, which currently has 20 employees. As founder of Studioilse, together with her multi-disciplinary, London-based team, she brings her philosophy to life. This means creating environments where humans feel comfortable; public spaces that make people feel at home and homes that are habitable and make sense for the people who live in them. It means designing furniture and products that support and enhance human behaviour and actions in everyday life. It means creating brands that balance the human experience with good business. As founder of the department of Man and Wellbeing at the Design Academy Eindhoven, her mission extends to nurturing a new generation of students to always question why and how their work improves the reality of life. Ilse Crawford has done several projects in Sweden; concept development and interior design of Mathias Dahlgren’s restaurants in Stockholm’s Grand Hotel, lighting for Wästberg, as well as brand identity and interior design of the luxury hotel Ett Hem in Stockholm. Other projects have included brand and interior design of Soho House New York and the concept and decor of Duddell’s in Hong Kong. Studioilse has also won multiple awards.

Previous Guests of Honour have been: Patricia Urquiola, Ronan och Erwan Bouroullec, Naoto Fukasawa, Konstantin Grcic, Giulio Cappellini, Ineke Hans, Paul Smith, Arik Levy, Inga Sempé, Oki Sato/Nendo and GamFratesi.

Otherwise a great line on the event where during every Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, moderators, speakers and panelists from around the world participate in the Stockholm Design Talks. It is the Fair’s forum for knowledge and discussions concerning design. Last year, the subject was “Moving Forward”. It was about the need for the furniture and design industry to look to the future. And this year the theme is “Tales of Creativity” that you can discover thanks to this teaser below.

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair will be held February 3–7, 2015, at Stockholmsmässan.