Meet the Scandi interior design stars of tomorrow

We’ve known for some time that us here in Scandinavia are not half bad at interior design. Well, that’s putting it modestly, right? We’re masters, really. And with such a long and feted history of birthing design greats (just look at Jacobsen and Aalto for one) comes a certain degree of expectation and pressure. But as with any new emerging generation, anticipation goes hand-in-hand with the thrill of discovering new talent and fresh faces and a whole class of names taking over the trusted design mantle.

As Stockholm was filled with the great and the good from the design world all this week, flocking into the capital for both Stockholm Design Week and the Furniture Fair, we’ve examined the new roster of designers and studios that are worth getting excited about.

Here’s the ones to watch:

Finnish designer Mari Koppanen is clearly fascinated with the space which exists between furniture design, textiles and biomaterial design. And she’s not afraid of using the natural world, and its resources, to create clever new design innovations. In her furniture series, known as Fomes, she has fashioned seats from birchwood and a fascinating suede-like fungal material known as amadou, which originally derives from polypore mushrooms called the ‘tinder mushroom’.

This leather-like material was first originally used back in Transylvania, where, since the 1840s, it has been used to make accessories, such as alpine-style hats. While the seats’ wooden legs are made from the birch trees that the fungus typically grows, the top cushions are created from fluffy cloud-like wool.

Finnish Reeta Laine first cut her teeth spending five years designing under Danish designer Nina Bruun, before starting her own studio and creative practise focusing on form and function. Specialising in boxy, straight-lined chairs crafted from oak, the Align Chair is certainly something you would love to see in your morning room.

Laine’s Torner sidetable, created from stone and granite, is made up of materials being stacked on top of one another to form layer upon layer, helping to give the object a feel that it’s turning in motion.

Founder Rosa Nøss Bendixen’s moto is upcycle everything. And that’s exactly what Wild Studio Cph do, using recycled materials and plastics stripped from household and ocean waste, they remake them anew into design-led pieces for your interior.

Their Moon Collection, chunky side tables perfect for your living room made from locally collected materials in Denmark and then are designed in Copenhagen. Our favourite? The Winter Moon Stool, crafted from recycled water bottles, with its pearly hue and almost translucent sheen, ideal for perching your coffee and copy of Vogue Scandinavia atop, of course.

Cora Hamilton & Emilie Florin, the creative duo behind Chef Deco, first founded the brand back in 2020 with a focus on top quality homegrown handicraft produced here in Sweden. Their aim, in their words, is to make ‘objects of beauty’ and boy, do they succeed.

Their joy-bringing rugs of rainbow hues and loud ‘notice me’ prints, crafted from 100% wool, are made to be enjoyed. While their elevated hand blown solid glass ​​dumbbells, made in Värmdö, will take your gym game up a notch. Well, a few notches actually.

Hailing from Beckmans College of Design and already nominated as the Rising star of the year at Scandinavian Design Awards 2023, Gustav Winsth is certainly one to keep an eye on. With his use of neon, smiley face motifs and inspiration hailing from sneaker culture and the graffiti scene, Winsth is a designer that creates in full colour.

With collabs including Hem, Verk, Gärsnäs, and Lammhults already safely under his belt, we don’t doubt that we will be seeing much more of him.

The Gothenburg-based designer Hampus Penttinen is all about clean lines and experimentation. We’ve fallen head over heels for his Atelier Lamp inspired by a combination of an artist’s easel and a photographer’s studio setup photography studios.

It allows you to play with light as you adjust the reflectors – playful, beautiful design as its best.

This Helsinki-based studio, which specialises in furniture and home accessories, clearly has one eye on the future, looking for innovative ways to redesign the homes we live in. Made up of a multidisciplinary design team, with interests straddling everything from textiles to spacial design, they see their creations as filling the gap between these areas.

Studio D-ja's lights, in particular, are notable standouts, with origami-style design, they look as if they’re created from sheets of paper and folded effortlessly into shape. We’ve got their hanging lamp on our interiors wishlist.