When Swedish design wunderkind Gustaf Westman posted a TikTok of his charming pink wine table, he never expected the internet to react so emphatically. Now, with a waitlist a mile long, the table has taken on a life of its own. Discover how Westman is fusing function with savvy socials to become a bona fide design sensation
Header image credits: Pink wine table, price upon request, Blue chunky stool, price upon request. Blue curvy sideboard, €2,900, Curvy room divider, price upon request, Flower mirror, price upon request, Red chunky desk, €2,300. All Gustaf Westman. Gustaf wears his own clothes.
While many of Gustaf Westman’s pastel-hued furnishings have been met with fanfare in the comments, none has sparked a frenzy quite like his tubular wine table. Constructed from six curved metal tubes, the function-forward piece offers two wine glass holders, two round surfaces and, at its centre, a place to put one’s bottle.
Just a handful of tables were constructed as a one-off for Vingården, a pizza and wine bar at Stockholm summer club Trädgården designed entirely by Westman. At the time, Westman saw them as “a fun thing for the bar”. However, when he posted his creation – first via an instructional video on TikTok and later on Instagram – he began to see its wider potential. “We were so shocked that anyone wants to have this useless wine table in their home,” he says, laughing. “Well… it’s not useless. It has one use.” As of writing, the waitlist to purchase one is over 2,000.
Originally made as a one-off for a wine and pizza bar in Stockholm, Gustaf Westman’s wine table now has a waiting list of 2,000 design enthusiasts. Pink wine table, price upon request. Gustaf Westman . Photo: Fredrik Skogkvist
It’s hardly the first time social media has played a part in Westman’s success story. Born and raised in Borås, the 27-year-old studied architecture at the University of Gothenburg before moving to Stockholm. His early gigs were small interior projects – a hair salon here, a PR office there. “I wasn’t really good at that, but I kind of said I was good,” he says. He didn’t turn a profit, but he used the budgets to produce his initial prototypes, most notably his beloved curvy mirror. People spotted the pieces on Instagram and started asking where they could buy them – among them, Swedish stylist and influencer Hanna MW. Once she started posting selfies in her very own curvy mirror, business really took off. “It got very popular quickly,” Westman says. These days his pieces can be found in the homes of Yung Lean and Olivia Rodrigo.
Westman has held onto this Instagram-led ethos as his business has grown, gauging demand before creating supply. “I’ll post something and see the reaction to it,” he says. “It’s nice because we don’t overproduce stuff. It’s hard to know people’s interest when you’re just sitting and sketching.”
We were so shocked that anyone wants to have this useless wine table in their home
Gustaf Westman
Photo: Fredrik Skogkvist
The wine table is just the latest instance of Westman’s whimsical approach to function. Take his signature chunky ceramic mugs, which sit in an oversized saucer to prevent spillage. “It’s so I can lay in bed and drink coffee,” he says. The mirror, meanwhile, is made with selfies in mind. “It’s designed to look nice in a photo,” he says. “Which is also a sort of function.”
As for when the 2,000 hopefuls will get their hands on a table of their own, they’ll have to maintain their patience a bit longer. “We’re working on it,” says Westman, noting with refreshing honesty that currently the cost of production is “a bit too high” (the originals were made via a metalworker in Jönköping). But Westman is confident he’ll find a solution to this specific problem – he always does.
