Good Design {For All} In Stockholm
One thing amongst many that I completely loved about Stockholm is that good design truly is accessible to all income levels. It wasn't just at DesignTorget, ?hl?ns, or Svenskt Tenn, but great things could be found in even the budget shops and especially the vintage and antiques stores.
Some textiles that I purchased, I love the new Elisabeth Dunker pattern to the far right called Str?ssel, I have 2 yards now for sewing a roman shade for my kitchen and it cost about $80 USD total for the fabric from ?hl?ns.
This (below) is ?hl?ns, it's right in the center of Stockholm so you can jump off the train at Central station and go directly upstairs to ?hl?ns, DesignTorget, even an inexpensive store called Lagerhaus that we discovered while roaming around that I'd not heard of before. I'll show you Lagerhaus further down in this post. But first, back to ?hl?ns. It reminded me a lot of Herrods in London or KaDeWe in Berlin.
The sales lady in their fabric department was so sweet, she even allowed me to take a few photos. Look at these gorgeous bolts of drool-inducing Scandinavian prints. I had to hold myself back because I truly wanted to buy a yard or two of each for further projects.
I should add that this store not only has amazing textiles, but the best selection of things for the home, like curtains, duvets, cookware, and I can't even get into their floor of fashion. I could have dropped several thousand dollars on each floor, everything was so on target with my personal taste that I felt like I had walked into a giant decor8 blog or that perhaps the entire store wasn't called ?hl?ns at all, but Holly-Land perhaps? Have you ever been into a store where you could own everything? For me, ?hl?ns was such a store. (Along with Pure And Simple, a boutique store near our hotel.)
Of course, good design should be available to all, and in Stockholm, it truly is. Lagerhaus located at Birger Jarlsgatan 18 was so inexpensive that I had to pinch myself, in some cases prices were lower than IKEA. From tin tea cans to bread boards, curtains, pillows, decals, postcards, mugs... Okay just about anything you can think of, Lagerhaus had it in abundance at great prices. I snapped a few quick photos while inside their store to give you a glimpse. Most of what you see is under $10!
Speaking of affordable, Swedish blogger Emma took me to a Salvation Army store in SoFo that is a fair trade store and they had some incredible stuff for the lowest prices. Of course, there's a lot of vintage shops around the city, a few of my favorites include Retro Etc., where I found this bread board that is 30 years old for under $20. This shop was so color loaded that you nearly need sunglasses to walk through the front door. And it's not just retro vintage stuff, there's lots of brand new goodies to look through like Mibo lighting and Orla Kiely deliciousness.
I also must comment on how easy it was to find gorgeous textiles in Sweden. Almost every store that offered pillows or curtains also sold the same fabric from bolts, you could purchase whatever you wanted and as a sewer, I appreciated seeing this so much. My 'issue' back in America is all the "to the trade only" nonsense, and although I can walk in and buy what I need, many cannot so they're banned from these items unless they have an contact or hire a designer, etc.
Back home, the common shopper, and I say common with all due respect just to mean someone who doesn't belong to the trade, has to go to fabric stores in either the big cities or the suburban chain fabric stores and hope to find some stylish textiles because what they really want is only available to certain people, if you know what I mean, those trade people. And I dislike this very much.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think this whole "to the trade" even exists in Sweden because again, good fabric was all over the city and anyone could walk up to a sales clerk and purchase yardage in their favorite print. I couldn't believe it. I really wish that in America, this whole practice is eventually done away with because it shuts out so many from things that they would otherwise own if only they had access to it.
I like Elle Decor, House and Garden, and other high end glossies for their gorgeous style and eye for design, but when I check the resource guide and see 90% of everything shown in the magazine is mostly to the trade only, I get this sinking feeling because I know that my friends are shut out and it's not fair. Then, on the opposite side of the spectrum, you have design-friendly and extremely accessible and savvy Stockholm. Another reason why this city completely rocked.
{I'm heading out to a fusion Japanese Jazz concert with friends, so I'll be back tomorrow with more Stockholm finds for you to enjoy.}
(images from holly becker for decor8)