Arkad Furniture Festival
As we enjoy the last few breaths of summer in Stockholm, we kicked off the new season with an exciting new festival; Arkad Furniture Festival.
Organized by architects Lovisa Justusson Lahti and Axel Bergholm, Arkad set out to do something a little differently. Less traditional furniture fair, more meeting place. Less rigid structure, more room to breathe. And perhaps most importantly, less “business as usual”/traditional.
From the moment you stepped inside, it was clear that this was not your typical industry fair. Music was pumping, drinks were served alongside oysters and pizza slices, and the atmosphere was relaxed, fun and refreshingly unforced. There were smiles, laughter, curiosity and that particular excitement that comes with the beginning of a new season. Arkad was a breath of fresh air, perhaps something the industry has been missing.
Rather than building a hierarchy between exhibitors, Arkad created a level playing field. Every brand had the same-sized stand, with no walls dividing each exhibitor from another. The result was an open, fluid environment where brands, designers, architects, and industry professionals could move freely between each other.
Sharing our space with Astrid Textiles, Hyfer Objects presented the latest additions to the Kakta collection, including the Kakta Cone pendant and Kakta Wall Sconce. Alongside them, the Anemone Dining Table and Octopus Side Tables found a natural place among Astrid’s magical, soft and warm textiles, a combination that made the shared space feel cohesive, tactile and inviting.
Arkad was part exhibition, part networking event, part industry gathering and, as the evening approached, a party. It brought together the commercial and the social sides of the industry. Because furniture has never really been just about furniture, but about people, places, ideas and conversations. So why shouldn’t the places where we discover it reflect that?
Arkad has made us at Hyfer Objects reflect on how much the industry itself has changed. The way we buy, discover products, work, meet and communicate has evolved, and with it, our expectations of what a fair should be. Does it need to feel like a fair at this point?
Perhaps the days of walking endless aisles, trying to absorb hundreds of products is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Maybe we are looking for something more human with fewer products, better conversations, unexpected encounters and experiences that stay with us long after we have left.
What does a fair actually need to be successful? Is it about the number of exhibitors, the size of the stands, the number of visitors or is it becoming something much harder to measure? A good conversation, an idea that sparks something new many months later? And do we all want the same thing?
Do architects need the same things as wholesalers? Do designers and retailers have the same expectations? And where do the brands themselves fit into this changing equation?
There is no single answer, which is why the discussion is so interesting.
To Hyfer Objects, Arkad felt like part of a wider shift, a willingness to question the established format and experiment with new ways of bringing people and brands together. It suggests that inspiration and business does not have to exist in separate rooms. A fair can be useful without being overly serious. Networking can happen over oysters, and a good party might actually be part of good business.
Whether Arkad has paved the way for a new generation of furniture fairs in Stockholm remains to be seen, but it has certainly opened the door to the conversation. The real question now is whether we are ready to walk through it.
