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by John Frostell
After almost one year has passed since visiting my birthplace, Stockholm,
and having given away numerous quick comments and observations about the
visit to people who have been caught in the firing line of my mouth, it
only took a few words of encouragement from my friend and colleague,
Andrew Lam-Po-Tang, to move myself to a point where some of my views
regarding design in Sweden could be collected and presented in a manner
where others may benefit from them.
For as long as I can remember, Sweden has had a very strong social,
economic and historical design ethic. Favourable views of this ethic are
held by many people around the world, whether or not they have had any
direct or other significant contact with the country and its people. The
stunning reputations of Swedish glass and textile industries verify
these thoughts. The fact that all members of my immediate family, and
many of those surrounding it, are currently involved in design
professions and pastimes is possibly no accident given the vitality of
design in this nation.
I can remember while visiting last Christmas how impressed I was that
design was such a strongly held value in daily life. The central plaza
in Stockholm boasted a large store named Design Torget (tr. The Design
Square) where design goods from all over the work, including local
material from Scandinavia, were sold. That this material would be given
such a prominent retail position within the centre of Stockholm was
personally arresting, but then again, given what I know of Sweden,
perhaps it shouldn't have been.
There were two standout pieces in the store, one being quite accessible
the other one being more of an 'objet'. The first was a lovely candle
holder made in the shape of the Red Cross logo and made from
metallic-coloured powdercoated steel. The item sold for 100 Crowns ($20
AUD) with all retail proceeds going to the charity. Practical (for the
cozy northern winter months), chic, affordable and for a good cause,
these were selling like ice creams on Bondi Beach during a heat wave.
The second item was a Meccano car for adults. It had been made out of
oversized Meccano pieces, as if it had grown up over the decades from
our childhood years until now. Sensational! Who said that the Swedes
have no sense of humour?
I was also impressed to see on the front page of the Dagens Nyheter, one
of the leading daily newspapers, an article covering the work of a
Swedish designer who had won an international design award for work on
the visual identity of Stockholm's new museum of modern art. If the same
news item had been covered in Australia the best we could have hoped for
was a few lines in the rear sections of B&T magazine or perhaps above an
ad for outboard motor repairers in the Manly Daily.
All is not, however, a bed of roses for design in the northern parts of
our globe for our Swedish colleagues seem to be having difficulty in
developing a profile for professional graphic design activity which
underscores the position of design as a whole within their nation.
During my first day in Stockholm I was fortunate to have a meeting with
colleagues from Svenska Tecknare, Sweden's professional association for
graphic designers and illustrators. Upon enquiring about Stockholm's
larger graphic design companies, I was met with blank looks. There
weren't any. Most graphic designers operate small consultancies or
freelance operations with much graphic design work being commissioned to
individuals via advertising agencies. There appeared a number of visible
reasons for this.
Firstly, there is little governmental incentive for small companies to
grow larger given the high rate of payroll taxation within the economy.
Secondly, the absence of electronic media until recently from the
advertising media mix placed greater emphasis on various forms of
printed media. Accordingly, the capabilities of graphic designers,
illustrators and photographers, who were focusing their activity towards
production of static images, grew to internationally recognised levels
of practice, but perhaps the negative aspect of this situation was a
blurring of the lines which typically delineate the activities of
advertising and graphic design businesses. Significant amounts of
graphic design work were then being produced from within advertising
agencies. With the electronic media now in use for advertising in
Sweden, it would appear that the losers from this change have been the
graphic designers who do not seem to have developed a suitably
independent profile for their profession. When I asked where major
graphic design projects were commissioned to, the answer indicated
prominent graphic design consultancies in London and New York. In one
instance, which I found personally outrageous, a major visual identity
project for a prominent Swedish political party was commissioned
recently to Mariscal in Spain. No patriotism there! He must have found
it hysterical.
I hope that the graphic designers of Sweden will take heed of the warning
signs which should be apparent to them and will undergo the same sort of
professional development and individual business growth which saw a good
number Sydney's graphic designers in the late 70s and early 80s move
away from the cover of the advertising agency structure and position
themselves as an independent marketing communications resource. Our
cities can't all become like London or New York, but there is still
plenty of respectable room on the bridge between obscurity and stardom.
Dan Johnsson, one of Sweden's graphic design stalwarts, who I was
fortunate to dine with on my last day in Stockholm, was interested to
hear of my observations and pointed out that graphic design companies
had been in much 'better shape' during decades preceding the 70s. With a
wry smile upon his face, he suggested that I should be part of the
solution and set up business in Stockholm. Maybe I'll just do that
before too long!
John Frostell
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