Nordic Reach

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How We Did It

Do things Scandinavian always come in waves? The New York stage has been inundated with nice things from the North. Our Spring issue covered the Norén debut "The Last Supper" of Jan.-Feb. Later, in June, 78th Street Theatre Lab presented the US premiere of Evil - a one-man play by Swedish author Jan Guillou. The play based on the same novel as the Oscar-nominated movie with the same name, was directed and translated by Jens Botrup. Jon Fosse's play, "Night Sings Its Songs," also premiered in ...

Tidbits

Also at Kulturhuset, conceptual art pioneer [YOKO ONO] will display such works as Wish Tree, Morning Beams, and En Trance. The Tokyo-born artist will also head outdoors with her art, broadcasting texts such as "Have you seen the horizon lately," "Imagine Peace," and "Remember Love," on the walls of various Stockholm buildings. A group of six-story apartment buildings, made primarily of wood, will be constructed this year in Sundsvall's inner harbor area. The project, designed by Susanne Åströ...

Fiddling Around

Jinder, a master of Sweden's traditional musical instrument the key-harp or "nyckelharpa," has been recording music and performing for a quarter century. But we have never heard Åsa's own voice on any of the 11 different studio albums she has released...until now.

Daybreak for Swedish Film

Traditional melancholy and meaningful close-ups were trademarks of the Swedish films that won the spotlight at European film festivals during the 1960s. In the recent years, competition has gotten stiffer, especially from Danish cinema, so the Blue Angel Award for Best European Film in 2004, awarded to director Björn Runge for "Daybreak" (Om jag vänder mig om) at the Berlin International Film Festival brought about well-deserved international recognition.

Dinner and a Show

It isn't often that a table of lamp evokes a "wow" response. But that's a typical reaction to the Anemone furniture series created by the young duo, Katriina Tilli and Mari Relander. Light shining above the lace-covered glass table casts an intricate floral pattern on the floor, and with the help of an Anemone lamp, a similar result is achieved on the ceiling, producing a virtual light show throughout the entire dining room.

On the Cutting Edge of Fashion

After the birth of her daughter, Isa, in March 2003, [Myrvold] moved back to Paris. Myrvold is certain to make a major splash later this year in the French capital when she launches one of her most ambitious projects ever, "Female Interfaces," in a group show in Centre George Pompidou. The performers wearing Pia's interactive clothes will push buttons and panels in the garments to activate sound and image loops, giving the models the opportunity to create their own look and convey thoughts an...

Made in Scandinavia

If you have a large space to illuminate and want to do it in a stylish manner, one couldn't do better than the "Giant" lamp from Le Klint of Denmark. With a diameter of almost a meter, the lamp now available in XXL size has the classical look of some of the original designs of company founder Kaare Klint. The artist, who calls her work "Inga from Sweden," observes that a blonde-haired woman is a sort of trademark for Sweden. -Ironically, the word "Inga" also means "nobody" in Swedish. "This c...

A Life of Food

Meet Håkan Swahn, founder and majority owner of famed New York restaurant Aquavit. Swahn was relaxed and happy when we meet at his New York home in February this year. The flagship of his growing empire, Aquavit, has a solid place among America's three-star restaurants. And its management company, Townhouse Restaurant Group, recently opened Riingo, with the kitchen manned by former Aquavit-trainee Johan Svensson. "My father was originally from Husqvarna, near Jönköping in Småland, and in the ...

Journey Into the Future, with 'Kaffe Med Kakor'

It made me realize again the need to live in the world of the present and to remember our different pasts. At the most recent Swedish Council of America's Board of Directors meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, I heard of a group of Swedish-Americans called "Digital Vikings." Their reason for being is to engage in the world of Digital with little or no interest in yesterdays events. They live in today and look to tomorrow. At the spring Cleveland meeting, another Swedish Council's Award of Merit Dinne...

Remembering Ingrid

Apple-cheeked and lovely, 24-year-old Ingrid Bergman took Hollywood by storm when she arrived in 1939. No difficult Garbo, no sexy Lana Turner, neither the "It" girl nor the bathing beauty -- it was hard to make heads or tails of this new star. Yet Bergman had already enthralled Swedish audiences in films such as Swedenhielms and Intermezzo with her down-to-earth beauty and simplicity of acting. Refusing to be molded into another Hollywood stereotype, Ingrid decided to keep her real name and ...

Royal Fever in Denmark!

The veil was a gift to Queen Ingrid's mother, Crown Princess Magareta of Sweden, who wore it at her own wedding at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in 1905. Prince Frederik's own mother, the extremely popular Queen Margrethe II, had also worn the same veil at her 1967 wedding to Henri de Monpezat.

War Film Minus Hollywood

The recently released war film "Behind the Front Line" (Framom Främsta Linjen-Etulinjan Edessä) documents the experiences of Finnish soldiers fighting against Soviet troops in the front line during the Continuation War, in 1942-1944. In particular, we follow the tribulations of an infantry regiment composed of young reservists from Österbotten, a Swedish-speaking province of Finland.

Kaada Is Cool

In his CD "Thank You tot Giving Me Your Valuable Time" (Ipecac/Warner Music) Kaada cooks up spicy dishes that make your musical taste buds tingle with delight and surprise. Rock, electronica, soul, funk, blues and gospel are some of the ingredients. Is that a Theremin we hear buzzing away on a great tune called "Go Brown"? You can expect anything to happen on an album bearing Kaada's signature.

Learning to Fly in Finland

Children don't become independent adults in the blink of an eye. It is a long process, and many changes are faced along the way. This is the idea behind a sporty, new youth-oriented collection called Learning to fly," created by graphic designer Nora Fleming, for Finland's Marimekko. The cotton clothing, intended for everyday use, walking in the woods, hanging around the house, or going to school, is based upon the life of a butterfly. "I started out with a concept and story, and I made a pro...

Snow Waves and Ice Crystals

Continuing to be inspired by nature, ice crystals gave Paakkanen the idea for another of his new designs, Kide, a stacking chair made of formed birch plywood with a base of tubular steel. In addition to the furniture that Paakkanen and his new company, Studio Helsinki, are creating for industrial production, he finds time to do a wide variety of one-of-a-kind artistic projects. He has created the Divan Mummola, named after his grandmother, which is a surprising piece of angular furniture made...

At Home On the Avenue Montaigne

The critical and commercial success of [Lars Nilsson]'s first collection for the legendary French house Nina Ricci, founded in the 1930s and based on Avenue Montaigne, was yet another feather in the cap for Nilsson, who has previously hung his hat at Christian Lecroix, John Galliano, Ralph Lauren, Dior, and Bill Blass. Nilsson is known in the states as the former designer of Bill Blass, and he has all good things to say about his tenure at the company. "I don't think I knew what a big name he...

Renaissance Art for Renaissance People

"[Anders Zorn] was very clever with light," [Vebjorn Sand] explained. "It's not just about painting and colors, but also how you handle the models. Zorn has been a role model for me. As an artist he is a phenomenon. He worked during a period when art history was written in terms of evolution," Sand said. "He was active during the height of impressionism, but unapologetically referred back at Diego Velazquez. Zorn, John Singer Sargent and Joaquin Sorolla were among the few who did so, and from...

A Box of Art

Later this spring, a special Pops Classics exhibit, on loan from the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, will feature over fifty works from the 1960s by American artists. All of the big names are well represented in this collection: Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Indiana.

For Love of Life

From the plains of Torslanda, Sweden, to hilly Irvine, Calif.; from glitzy auto shows in Germany, to even glitzier Times Square, Volvo's global program, the Volvo for Life Awards, has been an amazing success for the auto maker since its kick-off two years ago. This year's Awards ceremony, hosted by Jim Belushi, took over Time Square for an evening in April. A full-size replica of the XC90 SUV made up entirely of Lego pieces decorated the Times Square entrance to the event. Care to guess how m...

'Little Pink'

In true Scandinavian tradition, functionality is central. The YCC's front end is low, and the rear window extends all the way to the end of the trunk, so it's easy to park in tight corners. Both the gas tank and wiper fluid are accessible beside the driver's door (as is the practice for race cars) and have touch-sensor automatic openers. That means no gas tank lids to lose, and you don't have to open the hood to add wiper fluid.