The Architect's Chair

Mårten Claesson was born in Lidingö, Sweden, in 1970. His studies include construction engineering at the Vasa Technical College in Stockholm and architecture at the Parsons School of Design in New York, before graduating in 1994 with an MFA degree from the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. He is co-founder of Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects in Stockholm. Mårten Claesson is also a writer, a lecturer and a member of the board of Architects Sweden, Sveriges Arkitekter, the collective trade union and professional organization for all architects in Sweden.

Kristoffer Fagerström is a Swedish product designer and partner at Stockholm-based Note Design Studio, an internationally recognized multidisciplinary design practice. With a background in film and advertising, he has led the studio’s product and furniture design development for over 15 years, contributing to its award-winning portfolio of innovative and distinctive designs. His work explores the relationship between form, function, materiality, and human experience, with an emphasis on creating thoughtful, engaging, and enduring objects. He has also served on the jury of Stockholm Furniture Fair’s Greenhouse design platform.

Monica Förster is an internationally acclaimed Swedish designer and the founder and creative director of Monica Förster Design Studio in Stockholm. Recognised as one of the leading figures in Scandinavian design, her work spans furniture, objects and interiors, combining experimentation with materials and techniques with a strong conceptual and poetic approach. Förster has collaborated with international brands including Alessi, Artifort, De Padova, Georg Jensen, Poltrona Frau, Svenskt Tenn and Tacchini. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including MoMA in New York and the V&A in London, and forms part of permanent museum collections in Sweden and Norway. A five-time Swedish Designer of the Year, she was also awarded the Bruno Mathsson Prize in 2021 and named AW Designer of the Year in 2023.

Alexander Lervik is one of Scandinavia's foremost designers with several products in the permanent collections at the National Museum in Oslo and the National Museum in Stockholm. He works with leading Scandinavian brands such as Designhouse Stockholm, Adea, Noon, Zero and Orrefors/kosta Boda. Internationally, he has collaborated with, among others, Moroso in Italy. In 2007, he scanned his own brain and 3D printed it into the MYBRAIN lamp in a limited edition, which is described by several auction houses as the first signature object in Scandinavia for 3D printed technology. Among his most famous products are the Brighthandle door handle that communicates with colored light and the light swing ”Sense". Alexander Lervik's design is timeless Scandinavian with a twist - often containing an innovation and often with new areas of use. Alexander has had solo exhibitions at the National Museum in Stockholm, Sven Harry's Art Museum in Stockholm and a retrospective exhibition at the Kulturhuset in Stockholm.