Celebrating 40 Years of the Bruno Mathsson Prize

SWEDISH DESIGNER PIA WALLÉN AND THE LEMON YELLOW FELT A sun-splashed, glass-enclosed penthouse topping an 18th-century building is the enviable workspace of Pia Wallén. Situated in the center of Stockholm, it has sweeping views of the 80-meter-high tower of the Oscarskyrkan, a church dedicated to Oscar II, former King of Sweden.March 10 - 2022Not that this stops her talent from crossing the boundaries of fashion, accessories, and interior. While a graphic red cross is often her signature, Wallén is not one to shy away from vibrant hues of pink, green, and yellow, often in contrasting combinations with black and white. Here she divulges the story behind her customization of the 4PM Self-Build chaise, and its celebration of a color she associates with joy, happiness, and survival. "The naked wood and playful color also come closer to the chaise’s inspiration, Italian designer Enzo Mari and his self-build furniture." What drives your creativity? My creativity is like an ongoing research project. In all my work, I continue to search or to seek answers to questions I ask myself. If I do this and that, what will happen then? My new objects and products often transpire from my previous, responding to innovative and unique materials, techniques, and production practices. I might also be inspired by personal events or stories that move me. As a child, I worked with whatever came my way, whether it was textile or clay or paint. I always did something creative, but I didn’t have this idea to be a designer. In fact, in the beginning, I wanted to be a buyer – until I was a buyer at around 20 years old. I then saw that I wanted to change everything that I wanted to buy. That’s when I made the decision to try out being a designer. Now I’m trained as a fashion designer, but I like very much to crossover into different fields, with a common thing that is often material or technique. I appreciate the total design process for a product. What I like most is to make a process and a product from the very beginning. It’s difficult, perhaps, to make a story of something already there, and not the way I am used to working. " My combination of function and decoration for your body is quite similar to my past combinations of function and decoration to wear on your body – and why not a piece of furniture thatis also like jewelry?" A sun-splashed, glass-enclosed penthouse topping an 18th-century building is the enviable workspace of Pia Wallén. Situated in the center of Stockholm, it has sweeping views of the 80-meter-high tower of the Oscarskyrkan, a church dedicated to Oscar II, former King of Sweden. "The studio was actually intended for an artist when they built the building. It’s a fantastic space with lots of windows, I live and stay here, and work a lot.” The color is the first thing we notice. I thought about survival and the affirmation of a sunny day on the beach, with its tranquility, reflection, and joy, and realized that I wanted to do it in yellow. There were no other colors coming up, just yellow standing up strong and clear. I think the color adds joyful attachment to the chair. Initially I thought about painting the entire frame yellow as well, but then I saw that the wood is very nice, Scandinavian in a way, and I wanted to save the beauty of the raw material. " I wanted to have some textile on it, to make it a bit softer, and I work a lot with wool fiber and felted materials in my own production, mostly on slippers, table top decorative items, and bags. It’s a material I’m used to. The 4 millimeter-thick felt, which I source from Germany, is quite stiff. It’s an industrial textile that is not knit or woven – instead the wool fibers are pulled together in a mechanical way with needles." " I have my own company and I work from the initial idea until it gets out to the customer – even down to the packaging. I think I’m a little bit of a control freak. Of course there’s both a positive and negative side to that!" What impression do you hope to give with your customization of the 4PM Self Build chaise? This isn’t my first experience with self-build furniture. Several years ago a Swedish newspaper published blueprints for the Red Blue chair, designed in 1918 by Gerrit Rietveld. I took the blueprints to a carpenter and now I have a few of these chairs in my studio. With this kind of project, you take a product and then add something – it’s always interesting to see how you – or others – use their own creativity, add their own fantasy to something that is almost ready. "I cut out the felt forms of the seat and laminated the wool felt on the four panels that make up the seat. I use this same method in my Slitz jewelry collection of bracelets and rings, which have laminated wool felt on metal such as sterling silver and brass. For me, it is always interesting to continue and build upon my previous projects."

BLUE SHADES OF CÔTE D'AZUR Le Corbusier's architectural colour scheme, the French Riviera and the La Fondation Maeght art museum were the inspiration when Massproductions set out to develop a new colour for their Tio collection. The outdoor collection is now launched in the colour Overseas Blue.March 24 - 2022 Le Corbusier is considered one of the most important architects of the 20th century. Colour and its effect on architecture is said to have been as important to him as the room and its layout. In 1930, Le Corbusier created a colour system called "Claviers de couleurs" consisting of 43 colours in twelve scales. The Tio Collection's new colour Overseas Blue is taken from this scale, which is well suited for a company based on modernist ideals. The collection was photographed by Martin Runeborg at the La Fondation Meaght outside Saint Paul De Vence, where it takes its place in the Sculpture Garden and the Miró Labyrinth. Fondation MaeghtSome of the biggest names in 20th-century European sculpture, including Georges Braque, Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti, came together to help create La Fondation Maeght, which has become France’s most important art foundation and is among the world’s leading cultural institutions. La Fondation was established by Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, a visionary couple who were publishers and art dealers, and who represented and were friends with some of the most important artists of the era, including Braque, Miró and Giacometti, as well as Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall, and many others. "The Tio Chair is the contemporary design classic that started Massproductions journey." Le Corbusier's architectural colour scheme, the French Riviera and the La Fondation Maeght art museum were the inspiration when Massproductions set out to develop a new colour for their Tio collection. The outdoor collection is now launched in the colour Overseas Blue. "Outdoor environment differ from indoor environment in so many ways. Of course, high demands are placed on the material to be able to withstand the influence of the elements. But you also have other types of spaces to relate to, ranging from a park to an outdoor terrace or balcony. Overseas Blue is a nice addition to our range, it is a lively but balanced blue shade, which fits just as well into nature as in an urban environment. "- Magnus Elebäck,CEO and co-founder ABOUT TIODuring the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2009, Chris Martin and Magnus Elebäck launched both Massproductions as a brand and their first product: Tio Chair. Tio quickly gained recognition in the industry and in Massproductions first year of operation it won the Swedish Association of Architects’ Golden Chair design award.

4PM Self BUILD BY HANK GRÜNER While fantasy is natural to a child, Hank Grüner had, perhaps more than his fair share. “Mine was so overloaded I had five psychologists hanging around,” remembers the Swedish artist. Born in Brazil, Grüner was adopted by a Swedish family and moved to a small town outside of Gothenburg at six months old, where he developed a rich alternative universe with his childhood toys.  February 7 - 2022 Words by Mairi Beautyman The 1996 movie “Space Jam,” in which basketball player Michael Jordan travels to the animated Looney Tunes’ universe, was lifechanging for the teenage Grüner, who now canonizes his rich imagination into ceramics and large-scale paintings. “Eventually I learned drawing could help me with all of the things that I had in my head,” he notes. Here he shares the journey behind his customization of the 4PM Self Build chaise, and its mystical world including a squid, a devil, and characters taken from popular animations. How did this reoccurring love affair with toys of the 1990s develop in your work? The dreams that you have enable you to chase something. I chase to understand myself as a younger person. I take all of my imagination from what I loved as a child and still love to this day. I still have all of my childhood toys on a shelf in my studio, like Sailor Moon [a schoolgirl superhero from the Japanese anime series]; Street Sharks [characters that are half-man, half-shark]; Power Rangers [a team of superheroes], Transformers [giant robots that change into cars and other objects]; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [turtles with superpowers that fight evil]. I also buy a lot of old toys from online sites. There are particular colors and shapes – such as the Transformer form – that I involve. Could you describe a few of the drawings you made?Right as I began working on the chaise, I picked up two new Street Sharks figures. That meant I really wanted to draw them. On one of the biggest spaces on the chaise, the wood plate where you lay your feet, I drew a 10-centimeter-long, five-centimeter-wide Street Shark. There’s also another cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost, as well as a skeleton dressed as the Grim Reaper, a dragon, a squid, and a devil riding a motorcycle in the desert with lightning coming down. ...A devil riding a motorcycle? Say I start drawing a devil and then I add a motorcycle and then I think about a narrative to place yourself in...maybe the devil is going somewhere. Often they are ideas about what I want myself to be able to do, from flying to being a squid or big green fire-breathing dragon or riding a motorcycle... While fantasy is natural to a child, Hank Grüner had, perhaps more than his fair share. “Mine was so overloaded I had five psychologists hanging around,” remembers the Swedish artist. Born in Brazil, Grüner was adopted by a Swedish family and moved to a small town outside of Gothenburg at six months old, where he developed a rich alternative universe with his childhood toys.  "Eventually I learned drawing could help me with all of the things that I had in my head” Your 4PM Self Build is like a big collage. I filled every spot on the three large front panels. There are a lot of clippings, drawings, and tags made from mixing old English or Germanic letters with current letters – although there are no words. Using acrylic, markers, pen, and paper, I left what you might call the skeleton of the chaise clean as the wood is so nice. A lot of stuff has been torn off in order to take on something new. What remains is worn out and layered. "I started thinking about furniture accessible to everyone. The laminated wood used for the 4PM Self Build is very similar to that of the basketball court benches I remember from my childhood. These wooden benches were covered with tags and burn marks, and people were always drawing, for example, the name of a girlfriend. Somehow writing on the benches made them accessible to everyone, made them feel like it was their court. The court also had places where concert posters were repeatedly put up – after someone tried to rip off all of the concerts that had been, creating big clusters of papers. When I was making the chaise, I could see in my head all of these layers of concert posters. Your collage effect is really unique. How did you create that? Out one night, I met a girl who had been collecting National Geographic magazines for 20 years. She gave me a bunch, and now a big shelf in my studio is stacked with around 100 different ones. I rip out colorful pieces and then use brushes to apply acetone. Say it’s a butterfly – the color bleeds out and it gets more abstract. For the 4PM Self Build chaise, I chose a lot of photographs of coral with fish and underwater flowers. After drawing the squid, I pasted fish and underwater flowers around it in order to make a world mixed together. What impression do you hope to give with your 4PM Self Build chaise? "Really, it’s a big toy. I hope people might think, looking at the one I made, ‘I can do tags, I can draw, I can make another collage...hey, I could also do that in my own style."   Hank Grüner on instagram

PRESENTING 4PM AND 4PM SELF BUILD During Stockholm Design Week 2022, Massproductions presents the new 4PM chaise longue, made in Sweden from laminated douglas fir or cherry. In a homage to the Italian designer Enzo Mari, 4PM Self Build is also released, where you build a chaise longue yourself with the help of drawings and materials from your local hardware store. February 4 - 2022 Words by Sanna Fehrman Initially, 4PM was about creating high comfort from a hard material. The design language of the chaise is a combination of curved and flat parts and has been designed to provide the best possible comfort. In this case, Massproduction’s chair library has acted as a study in seating comfort, together with a number of prototypes developed at Massproduction’s design studio in Stockholm. It was also where the Self Build project started. Originally, 4PM Self Build was a fast model for analyzing comfort, where Massproductions’ product developers had to build multiple versions to create the right feeling. From above, the profile of 4PM tapers towards the footrest, which enables the feet to fall comfortably on both sides, something that also simplifies getting in or out. The horizontal footrest can also be used as a temporary seating area or a table surface. "We named the chaise longue 4PM, as it is the perfect time to sit back and enjoy a cup of tea. The chaise longue is a perfect place to put your feet up in the afternoon or any other time of day." - Chris Martin, Designer in Chief 4PM is available in two types of wood, Douglas fir which is characterized by its warm tone and fine grain and cherry which is slightly darker. Instructions and drawings for 4PM Self Build can be downloaded free of charge from Massproductions’ website. The material for the furniture can be purchased from approx. 50 EURO and up, depending on the material chosen. In connection with the project, the publication To Build A Chaise, written by the design writer Mairi Beautiman, will also be released. The website also sells a 4PM Self Build kit containing the publication, headrest in S rensen leather, Massproductions branding plate, certificate and feet. During Stockholm Design Week 2022, Massproductions presents the new 4PM chaise longue, made in Sweden from laminated douglas fir or cherry. In a homage to the Italian designer Enzo Mari, 4PM Self Build is also released, where you build a chaise longue yourself with the help of drawings and materials from your local hardware store. "A chaise longue is not really a piece of furniture you will ever need, but if you can afford it, it can gild everyday life. And when I say can afford, I mean can afford in terms of space, because a chaise longue takes up a lot of space in relation to its function. " - Chris Martin, Designer in Chief "Enzo Mari’s design was on another level. He was careful not to pollute the world with objects. He did not present anything that could not be justified as a long-lasting product. He had a talent that inspires you." - Chris Martin, Designer in Chief Chris Martin wanted to create a comfortable chaise longue that also has its place in a public environment, without unnecessary upholstery that may eventually need to be replaced. Chris therefore chose to add a single dressed element where it was needed most, a headrest. The headrest is adjustable in height and it is elegantly balanced on top of the backrest, and is held in place by an enclosed steel weight. The headrest is available for purchase separately for those who build their own chaise longue. "We realized that the self-built version of 4PM was cheap, simple and fun to build. You may not be able to afford 4PM, but with instructions you can make your own and get the luxury of the chaise longue, without the luxurious price tag. Maybe there is something exciting in being able to build the furniture yourself. That’s when I realized that Enzo Mari never included a chaise longue in his self-build project." - Chris Martin, Designer in Chief In 1974, the Italian designer Enzo Mari released his book ”Autoprogettazione”, consisting of drawings for 19 pieces of furniture that you can build yourself. Mari is one of Chris Martin’s great design heroes and this is where the idea for 4PM Self Build was raised. "Building something yourself gives a completely different feeling, you value the furniture more. Maybe it reminds you of building models as a child? It is a satisfaction in the work. Even if you have clear instructions, you can customize the furniture and personalize it as you wish." - Chris Martin, Designer in Chief