London Design Festival 2013: Strek Collective

London – Oslo-based Strek Collective, a design studio made up of four young Norwegian designers, was represented at the London Design Festival 2013 last month by Fredrik Wærnes and Nicolai Gulliksen, who showed the studio’s latest product, the Bow stackable wooden stool.

The Bow stool was the result of a collaboration between Strek and Fyresdal Tre, a small manufacturer specialising in solid wood products based in the woods of Norway. Strek worked with Fyresdal Tre on the stool’s development, using its traditional carpentry knowledge to create the piece.

‘We like to work with natural materials and use the traditions that exist in handicraft, combining them in a new context,’ Wærnes tells LS:N Global.

While Norwegian design is sometimes overshadowed by its Swedish neighbour, LS:N Global has been aware of Strek Collective since Milan Design Week 2012. Its approach to design – creating timeless, heritage-based yet contemporary pieces – is helping to bring Norwegian design to the fore.