3 x Royal(ish) Designs

Words Micha van Dinther and Magnus Wittbjer

Optica, Kaleido and Intarsia

Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte has been stirring up quite a lot of talk (both good and bad) for his work through Bernadotte & Kylberg, a design firm that he has set up with Oscar Kylberg, and this autumn sees the launch of a collection of three fabrics designed exclusively for department store Åhléns. Based on the 2012 carpet *Middle of Nowhere*, which featured a Pop Art-like pattern of lines, the latter have been reused, and through twisting and turning the pattern, the Optica, Kaleido and Intersia fabrics were born. The collection, consisting of a number of cushions, throws, carpets, towels and bedding, is now available at Åhléns.

www.ahlens.se

The London Collection

What happens when you cross Skultuna, a Swedish brass manufacturer that was set up by King Karl IX in 1607, with Lara Bohinc, the London-based queen of exquisite jewellery? The result, a series of home accessories named The London Collection, is nothing less than majestic. The overall theme in the collection is motion, with the pattern of the Lunar lantern reflecting the lines of freeways in Japan. The Celestial pattern illustrates the movement of the planets, while Feathers is about the light strokes of a bird’s wings. The brass bookend shows Skultuna’s and Bohinc’s future ambition to bring the collection even further, so watch this space.

www.skultuna.com

Bernadotte

The unchallenged prince of design is Sigvard Bernadotte, who passed away in 2002, and during his lifetime worked for the likes of Skultuna and Skaga. The iconic Margrethe bowl for Rosti celebrated its 60th anniversary earlier this year, and for half a century he was involved in creating silver pieces for Danish firm Georg Jensen. The Bernadotte sterling silver cutlery pattern is a fine example of the functionalist period of the early 1930s. The true functionalist ideal was to create mundane objects for everyone, which is contradicted by Bernadotte’s use of silver. We guess that is what makes it truly royal, right?

www.georgjensen.com