Scandinavian design is still seen as democratic, functional and simple, its products exemplifying the same characteristics now as they have done since the 1950s. But both the essence and the history of Scandinavian design are much more complex than this. Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories presents a radically new assessment, a corrective to the persistent mythologies and reductive accounts of Scandinavian design.

The book brings together case studies from the early twentieth century to today. Drawn from fields as diverse as transport, engineering, packaging, photography, law, interiors, and corporate identity, these studies tell new or unfamiliar stories about the production, mediation and consumption of design. An alternative history is created, one much more alive to national and regional differences and to types of product.

Scandinavian Design analyses a century of design culture from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and, in so doing, presents a sophisticated introduction to Scandinavian design.

About the author

Kjetil Fallan is Associate Professor of Design History in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo, Norway, and the author of Design History (Berg, 2010).

Contents

Introduction, Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo, Norway

1. A Historiography of Scandinavian Design
Kjetil Fallan, Anders V. Munch, University of Southern Denmark, Pekka Korvenmaa, Aalto University, Finland; Espen Johnsen, University of Oslo, Norway, Sara Kristoffersson and Christina Zetterlund, both Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden

PART 1: NETWORKS
1. 'What's Worth Copying Is Worth Protecting': Applied Art and the Evolution of Danish Copyright Law, Stina Teilmann-Lock, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Hand-Woven Fabrics by the Yard: Unveiling Modern Design Industry of the Interwar Period, Leena Svinhufvud, Design Museum Helsinki, Finland
3. Designing the 'Consumer in Infinity': The Swedish Co-operative Union's New Consumer Policy, c. 1970, Helena Mattsson, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
4. Designing a Hole in the Wall: The Reverse Vending Machine as Socio-Technical System and Environmental Infrastructure, Finn Arne Jørgensen, Umeå University, Sweden

PART 2: APPROPRIATIONS
5. Just Decoration? Ideology and Design in Early Twentieth Century Sweden, Christina Zetterlund, Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden
6. Goldfish Memories: Recounting Oslo's Streamlined Aluminium Trams, Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo, Norway
7. Creature Comforts: Soft Sofas and the Demise of Modernist Morality in 1970s Finland, Minna Sarantola-Weiss, Helsinki City Museum, Finland
8. Jacob Jensen and the Lifa Kitchen: Branding the 'Lifestyle Kitchen' with Designer Personality and Mythology, Hans-Christian Jensen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

PART 3: MEDIATIONS
9. Something Old, Something New, Something Stolen, Something Blue: Designing a Chocolate Bar, Stig Kvaal and Per Østby, both Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
10. Exhibitable Furniture: Interpreting Images of Design, Malene Breunig, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
11. The Advantages of Being Swedish: Volvo in America, Jeff Werner, Stockholm University, Sweden
12. From Policies To Politics: Finnish Design on the Ideological Battlefield in the 1960s and 1970s, Pekka Korvenmaa, Aalto University, Finland

Epilogue, Kjetil Fallan

Bibliography
Index