The Danish-Italian design studio GamFratesi were Guests of Honor for the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2014. As such, they got to design the prominent exhibition and meeting area at the entrance of the fair. Quite appropriately, they called it "Balance". Photo by Tiffany Orvet.

It is about the creation of products rather than the products themselves, says Oki Sato of the Nendo installation in the entrance hall of Stockholm Furniture Fair. 80 lasercut sheets of Forex foam board take on mountain-like shapes when stretched, and create a partly invisible landscape surrounding examples of Nendo’s designs up through the last decade.

The pair debuted the piece at the 2010 Stockholm Furniture Fair.

Design duo GamFratesi (2014 Guests of Honor at the fair) designed the Cartoon chair for Swedese last year. This year they followed it up with a high-hacked big sister with a similarly unforgettable charm.

Suspended over many of the various furniture pieces GamFratesi has designed for Swedese, Fredericia, FontanaArte, Casamania, Ligne Roset and others, were large Calder-like hanging textile pieces that swung and whirled ever so gently. According to the designers, it was meant to represent the everyday struggle to find balance in life, and emphasize the movement of the fair's visitors through the space. Besides being beautiful, the sculptural pieces worked as room dividers and sound absorbers. Photo by Tiffany Orvet.

The Dunder sofa by Blå Station, as glimpsed on the showroom floor of the 2010 Stockholm Furniture Fair.

The roofline of the Tind house prototype, designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune for prefab company Fiskarhedenvillan, has more conventional Swedish gables than the flat-roofed modernism of typical prefab units.

To inform the color palette for this interior renovation in Stockholm, NOTE Design Studio began with three inspirational images. The sculptural fireplace, covered in plaster, contrasts with oak parquet floors.

Taking its inspiration from Stockholm's suburban skyline, this lamp by Folkform for Örsjo Belysning is made up of block-like shapes in brass that are different from every angle. You may have seen it's sibling pendant, but this was its first foray as a floor lamp. And as if we needed any support that it was classy enough, Queen Silvia of Sweden received one of her own from the country's Prime Minister earlier this winter. Folkform were quite chuffed to install it themselves at the Royal Palace. Photo by Tiffany Orvet.

Plymå bench by Mattias Stenberg for Nola The smooth curves of this indoor bench may look a bit like plush upholstered furniture, but the resemblance ends there. With its ash wood seats and optional backrest, and limestone table surface, it's durable enough for hardwearing public spaces with a softer side.

Gemla is the Swedish factory that's been bending wood since the late 1800s. So how do you create a contemporary sofa out of bent wood? Lisa Hilland did it with as few components as possible; three overlapping arches wrapped in leather for a tactile touch.

“We took away a very thick, heavy staircase that led to the loft, and designed one that had a much lighter look,” Wåhlin says. “The new one, made of steel, looks simple and indeed light—but is in fact super heavy and was a real challenge to construct.”

Ryan Anderson of RAD Furniture designed the stools as well as the table and benches on the pool deck.

Emily chair by Färg & Blanche for Gärsnas A little sister companion to Färg & Blanche's "Emma" chair last year, the Emily is another beautiful example of a well-tailored armchair that looks to craftsmanship to create a unique yet classic look. Photo: by Jaan Orvet.

For Färg & Blanche's "Pocket Cupboard," the design duo stitched leather pockets directly onto plywood cabinet covers. If you open the cupboard doors you'll see that the stitches go all the way through.

A detail shot of the Waiter Chair, taken on the showroom floor of the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

Fredrik Färg and Emma Marga Blanche are known for applying fashion tailoring to furniture. In their latest experiment, they use an industrial strength sewing machine to sew through plywood, creating stitched layers of wood in different hues to dramatic effect. Photo by Tiffany Orvet.

NOTE designed the wood blue-gray wall covering in this bedroom. A chrome Bestlite BL6 wall lamp by Gubi hangs near custom-made curtains, created using fabric by Astrid.

Klong tends to go for the unexpected, and this new take on the everyday watering can by Broberg & Ridderstråle is no exception. There were two prototypes on display at the start of the fair, the other with a copper finish. By day four, the brass had won out. Photo by Jaan Orvet.

This is the first lamp from glass artist Åsa Jungnelius, for Bsweden, and it's no surprise that it's something special. "I have previously experimented with building large, flat glass sculptures and was fascinated by the glitter created on the inside, where the geometric shapes reflect on each other. I wanted to bring that into play," said Jungnelius. She succeeded.

In the living room, spare Scandinavian design takes center stage. Hans Wegner’s Wishbone chairs surround an Essay dining table by Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen; a mostly wood palette is enhanced by slate-gray brick around the fireplace. The paper lanterns throughout the home are a mixture of classics by Isamu Noguchi alongside those picked up in Japan and France.

Built-ins reduce the need for furniture.

At the client’s request the kitchen contains neither upper cabinets (Shino can’t reach them) nor an oven (they only used the old one once—to reheat a pizza). A modular Roche Bobois Mah Jong sofa adds a decorative flourish to the living area while maintaining as low a profile as the traditional Japanese furniture.

Yang Yeo and his girlfriend Ching Ian relax on the back stoop of their renovated and radically updated Singapore shophouse—an archetypal building type in this busy port city. “Shophouses brought back memories of our childhood,” says Yeo.

Designer Tom Dixon poses in his booth at the 2010 International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.

One thing we're seeing a lot of? Pegboards. Starting with this sweet little number, W.30 wall storage by Sara Larsson for A2, that includes shelves, brackets, vase racks, display racks and mirrors that you can mix and match to your heart's content. (The cabinet is A2's new "Story" cabinet with a marble top.) Photo by Patrik Svedberg and Adam Danielsson.

Two San Francisco art and travel addicts overhauled a loft—and customized a pair of shipping containers—to accommodate their collection and reflect their passions.

Stockholm Public Library in Stockholm, Sweden-The first library in Sweden to adopt an open shelf design, the Stockholm Public Library opened its doors in 1928, when architect Gunnar Asplund and librarian Fredrik Hjelmqvist decided—to the joy of librarians all over the world—that library patrons could fetch their own books. Their self-service model was reinvigorated recently, with a renewed push toward automation for check-outs and returns. Photo: Marcus Hansson

Illuminated by a String Light from Flos, the bedroom embraces the loft’s palette with a side table, duvet, and pillows by HAY.

To highlight the existing architecture of the home, Hill retained the dark polish of the casement windows, which she finds enhances period details instead of undermining them. In the rear sunroom, the vintage Case Study furniture pieces with Plexiglas bases are from Metro Retro in Houston. A Bourgie lamp by Kartell is atop an old marble end table by Knoll, and the Gan kilim rug pictures a branch motif echoed in the kitchen and breakfast room.

Builder Ross Percival helped finesse the finely tuned detailing that separates the internal slope from the rock outside (opposite). The Pedro wire stool is by Craig Bond for Candywhistle.

Alex enjoys a sun-filled breakfast at the built-in dining table and bench, one of many space-saving designs.

To inform the color palette for this interior renovation in Stockholm, NOTE Design Studio began with three inspirational images. “We let our gut feelings lead us,” says architect Susanna Wåhlin. They chose a picture of a woman in a cashmere coat (for its softness and style), a plaza in Rome (for its timelessness), and a pair of sand-colored sneakers (for its laid-back connotation). The palette is apparent in the kitchen, where a STRIPE rug from Kinnasand accents the family’s dining table, framed by chairs and a hanging lamp by Gubi.

Organized around the staircase and entrance, or core, is a succession of communal living spaces that connect to the outdoors via seamless windows. Images courtesy Claesson Koivisto Rune.