Culture And Ethos: The Three Forms Of Scandinavian Design

Hundreds of miles away from the center of Europe stretching into the Arctic, great civilization is still growing. For thousands of years, Scandinavian people found out their very own way to not only survive with the endless blizzard, but also to live a life full of happiness. The secret is probably all hidden in their brilliant minds. Design has become something that flows with their blood inside of them. They changed not only their lives, but also the understanding of design of the entire world. However, while Scandinavian only refers to Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the term of Scandinavian design actually contains Finland and Iceland besides those three kingdoms due to the close historical, political and geographical ties. It is a design movement that emerged in the 1950s and traces its roots to Modernism. Integrating the Scandinavian culture and ethos, its philosophical basis was simply characterized by minimalism, simplicity, functionality and humanity.
2 When we are discussing Scandinavian design style, minimalism is one major aspect. However, not all minimalism style is Scandinavian. Unlike Japanese minimalism, which focuses on designing the use of space as a whole, Scandinavian design focuses on a more specific levels, objects, such as chairs and lights. One may feel that Scandinavian design has extremely basic forms and color palettes that
He always removes everything excessive in his designs, leaving only the essentials. Pictures on the right side are showing Kaj’s most iconic tableware called Teema, which is a versatile collection with endless combinations of shapes, sizes and colors. Capturing the essence of Scandinavian design minimalism, each Teema piece is derived from only three simple forms: square, circle and rectangle. Functional, durable and refined, Teema is the perfect tableware for every day use. As Kaj Franck put it, “Colour is the only decoration