Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

DESIGN

Four Swedish home design trends for spring

Swedish interiors are world famous and this weekend the largest design fair in the Nordics, Formex, is taking place in Stockholm. Interior Designer and blogger Angeline Eriksson has had a preview of the top home trends it is showcasing in 2015.

Published: 15 January 2015 22:35 CET
Four Swedish home design trends for spring
The Formex design show in Stockholm. Photo: TT
Nordic and Neat are the two buzz words you need to know in 2015.
 
“During restless times of war and health epidemics around the world, we have a need to make our home a place where we can feel secure. Everything has its place without being boring or impersonal,” explains Formex's event manager Christina Olsson.
 
But while Nordic Neat appears to be the most popular trend, there is also a heavy influence of bold, refreshing colours that is not typically associated with Scandinavian design, and an overall feeling of cheerful 1950s optimism.
 
Materials are a key focus as sustainability is no longer a futuristic concept but a reality of our times. Traditional Nordic handicrafts are re-imagined using new techniques and colour.
 
These ideas are realised in three other trends: Nordic Essence, Nordic Motion and Nordic Folk. Here are a few examples of each future fashion.
 
Nordic Neat
 
Nordic Neat is the desire to create order and clarity, to sort, to study and to celebrate the ordinary in new and exciting ways. Contrasting colours are common, with welcoming red and turquoise paired with cream, beige and brown.
 
Linda Brattlöf of design house Garden Glory for example has taken a household item – a water hose – and made it clean, fresh and chic.
 
Colour choices range from 'white snake' to 'gold digger', with 'Caribbean Kiss' the new turquoise shade for 2015. Linda Brattlöff is a rebel who has refused to accept ugly as an option and turned an eyesore into the talk of any garden party. When asked about her designs she proudly states: “Yes I'm reinventing the wheel. And don't we need it!”
 
Also on show at Formex 2015 are her chic mailboxes that look like Chanel clutches.
 

Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova
 
Nordic Essence

Nordic Essence is about designers doing new things with new building materials –  dealing with waste from other industries, reworking them and creating something new.

Patrick lu, a product and interaction designer and Mattias Chrisander, a product designer and furniture maker, have teamed their collective education and experience to launch Mùk.

“Mùk is Cantonese for wood”, explains lu, who has Chinese heritage but was born and raised in Sweden. Mùk takes the waste of building materials and moulds them into various shapes, in the fashion of paper mache.

“We're always thinking of fun ways to use materials”, says lu.

At Formex, the Mùk team is showcasing 'Fiber', a multifunctional lamp made of either fiberglass waste or discarded sawdust, with an adhesive used in the muolding process. Using either a notch or leather strap, Fiber can be hung or attached to shelving. It can be laid on its side, set upright from the shade or used as a flashlight.

“But our favorite thing about Fiber is the simple, clean design,” states Chrisander.


Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova

Nordic Motion

Nordic Motion is about creativity and humour. Inspired by Sweden's sporty lifestyle, it looks at clever solutions for newer materials with sharp accents and bright, bright, bright colours. 

With over 100 years of design experience, the Eva Solo Company knows a few things about kitchen design. Launched in Denmark in 2014, the appropriately named 'Citrus Press', looks at a design challenge that has been attempted by many. Eva Solo believes that they have perfected it. In the shape of a lemon, the exterior is silicone for a firm grip and the interior nylon for easy cleaning.

The design ensures that Citrus Press always sits upright. The pips are retained by a rim, which allows the juice to flow through small grooves.

“It's about making life easier in the kitchen,” explains spokesperson Ulrika Ulrika Görefält.


Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova

Nordic Folk

Sweden is steeped in tradition and there is barely a Nordic design show without handicraft-inspired work on offer. The trend this year is traditional meets super modern. Designers borrow from the past to create exciting new designs full of colour and creativity. 

One example is the work of Swedish graphic designer My Floryd Welin, who launched My Floryd Welin in 2012. Welin borrows some of her graphics from traditional hand painted Dalarna horses and from Swedish traditions like Midsommar, blueberries and lingonberries, painting them on kitchen stools, serving trays, coasters, napkins and ceramic coffee and tea sets.

Her work has a prominent 1950s vibe and Welin says she's also deeply inspired by “fika”, the Swedish coffee break ritual.


Photo: Anastasia Vetoshnikova

For members

PROPERTY

INTERVIEW: ‘Most foreigners in Sweden don’t know they can get back excess rent’

In Sweden, people subletting apartments are not allowed to charge more in rent than they themselves pay. But foreign subtenants don't always know this. We asked Roland Sjölin, lawyer at the Swedish Tenants' Association, about how to get back excess rent.

Published: 18 April 2024 15:19 CEST
Updated: 21 April 2024 08:12 CEST
INTERVIEW: 'Most foreigners in Sweden don't know they can get back excess rent'

More and more of the people asking the Swedish Tenants’ Association, Hyresgästföreningen in Swedish, for help with excess rent are foreigners, Sjölin told The Local in an interview.

“The problem is that if you’re coming from another country, and you’re subletting an apartment, you’re probably not familiar with the rules in Sweden, because in other countries, it might be okay to overcharge your tenants.” 

He said that clients from India in particular seeking help from the association were now “very common”. 

“Many people come here to work as engineers in the IT sector and then have to rent somewhere,” he said, adding that as a group Indians appeared to be “very aware of their rights.”

Sweden’s rental sector is heavily regulated, with first hand contracts negotiated between landlords and the Tenants’ Association, and the rent that can be charged for second-hand contracts limited to only a small fraction above what the first-hand renter pays. 

“You’re not allowed to make any profit subletting an apartment in Sweden,” Sjölin explains. “You can only charge the subletting tenant the same rent as you [the first-hand tenant] are paying to your landlord, and then you can add the costs for internet and electricity, and perhaps a parking lot, if that is included.” 

Tenants’ Association lawyer Roland Sjölin. Photo: supplied.

You can also add a påslag or “markup”, if you are renting out the apartment fully furnished, but this cannot exceed more than 15 percent of the rent. 

That doesn’t mean that most landlords follow the law. The competition for rental apartments, especially in Stockholm, is so intense, that unscrupulous sublet landlords often try to get away with charging well over the legal amount, charging what is known in Sweden as ockerhyra, or “excess rent” and hoping that their tenants are too desperate to complain.  

What many foreigners do not realise is that even after the rental period is over, they can still get back any excess rent they have paid by applying to the Rental Board or Hyresnämnden, which functions like a court judging rental disputes. 

“If you have the evidence then it’s fairly easy,” Sjölin said. “I get a new case every second week on repayment of unfair rent, and I think that I win most of them.” 

“Nowadays, you can get paid back excess rent up to 24 months back in time, so people tend to get more money,” he added. “In some cases, they can get 200,000 kronor. In other cases, perhaps it’s only 30,000 kronor or 60,000 kronor. It depends on how long you have rented the apartment, and how excessive the rent you’ve been paying has been.”

The first step is to establish what would have been a fair rent, either by asking your landlord what they themselves pay directly or by checking with the Tenants’ Association.

“Because we negotiate most rents in Sweden, we normally know what the firsthand rent is,” Sjölin explained.

Then you need to collect together your evidence.

“It’s a good thing to have a written contract and also papers from your bank showing that you paid rent every month, and perhaps photographs of the apartment, so the rental board can get an idea of the apartment you were renting and what would be a fair rent, and also the termination for the contract so you can show the court how long you’ve been living in the apartment.” 

But Sjölin underlined that since Sweden has free burden of evidence, none of this is essential. 

“Even if you’ve been paying in cash, if you have witnesses who can testify what you were paying each month, you still have a chance of getting your money back. It’s a bit more tricky, but I’ve won two cases like that this year.” 

People in Sweden, he explained, tend to wait until the rental period is over before seeking to get paid back excess rent rather than challenging their landlord while they are still living in the apartment. 

“You don’t have any legal protection for your home for the first two years, so if you bring the matter up with the person you’re renting the apartment from you risk losing your contract and having to move out, so most people wait until they’re supposed to move anyway,” he said.

If you apply to the rental board for a refund close to the day you move out, you can then make your landlord pay back all excess rent paid in the 24 months leading up to the date you contacted the rental board.

If you are a member of the Tenants’ Association, you can contact them and ask for help with your application, but there are also specialist companies, like Orimlig Hyra AB who will buy your case off you and give you a refund within 48 hours, saving you a long wait in exchange for a cut of the money reclaimed. 

Sjölin said that the rental board normally took about 8 months to come to a judgement, but that if the person with the first hand contract appeals, that could extend the waiting time by between six months and a year.

SHOW COMMENTS