Formex’s Guest Influencer August 20-23 was none other than Lidewij Edelkoort, one of the design world’s most respected trend experts. Together with Philip Fimmano, the art director at Edelkoort Inc., she created a unique inspirational exhibition in Stockholmsmässan’s Entrance Hall. It was the largest exhibition in Formex’s history in terms of floor area.

The exhibition focused on an object’s inherent energy, and was inspirerd by animism – the belief that even inanimate objects have a soul.

"Animism basically means that you believe that everything has value. Everything. Every step you make. Every thought you have. Every word we write.”/Li Edelkoort

The exhibition was an almost spiritual experience at the fair entrance, serving as a guide to another way of shopping. By giving a strong focus on the emotional values of goods and materials Edelkoort and Fimmano hoped to convey the beauty and energy found in everyday objects. They brought together the exhibitors’ designs with respect and intended them to be contemplated in a calm and soothing environment. As if encountering them for the very first time. 

All objects in the exhibition was placed on furniture that had been built inhouse, based on open source building instructions for the collection Rough and Ready by Tord Boontje.

Boontje describes his collection:

- The Rough and Ready collection comprises of furniture which reflects urban situations. It is made from materials which have been salvaged or are common place and cheap. The pieces, as their title suggests, appear rough and ready. They have a sense of incompleteness, a feeling that things might change. They are utilitarian works, which acknowledge the beauty of imperfection and offers an alternative to slick objects.

It is about offering awareness of choice. Providing information instead of stuff. Homemade instead of factory produced. To date about 30,000 drawings have been distributed for free. Although I cannot guess how many people have made chairs, I think I can say that in a sense the chair has become a mass-produced item. Each one manufactured locally, with local materials, skills and hopefully each one with its own personal interpretation.

Read more about the Rough and Ready collection where you will also be able to download the Rough and Ready Chair building instructions.

About Lidewij Edelkoort

Lidewij Edelkoort began her successful career as the head of fashion at the De Bijenkorf department store in Amsterdam. After graduating from the art university ArtEZ, she moved to Paris in the 1970s where she started her own trend agency, Trend Union, which now also has offices in New York and Tokyo. Every second year, the agency publishes the world’s most influential trend book, and this book is used by the designers and marketers at many well-known international brands, from Coca Cola to Gucci. In 2011, Li launched the social media platform TrendTablet. She is considered one of the world’s most influential trend gurus and designers by magazines such as i-D and Time.