TAF Arkitektkontor recently received both Sköna Hem’s Furniture of the Year award and the Bruno Mathsson Prize. Earlier this year, TAF was named Designer of the Year by Form Magazine and also won an award from Elle Decoration.
Some furniture designs already feel like classics, even though newly created. Such is the case with TAF / Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom’s Bleck sofa and easy chair launched at the Stockholm Furniture Fair earlier this year. The inspiration for Bleck comes from an observation regarding the reverse sides of paintings. The canvas stretcher is reinforced with triangular braces, called bleck in Swedish. By also using such a brace for functionality and decor, TAF has worked deliberately to make the sofa and easy chair just as attractive from the back as the front. So too regarding the upholstery, which exposes what is usually hidden. Instead of folding the seams and hiding them away, the leather is cut off and the result looks like clothing turned inside out. Because Bleck works equally well from all directions, it is easy to place and lends the space both harmony and beauty.
Sköna hem Furniture of the year 2017
The jury’s citation:
“Exposed construction and playful naivism are two of TAF Arkitektkontor’s hallmarks. Add elegance to the design duo’s first upholstered piece of furniture and the result is a sofa that can be placed anywhere in the room, suspended over slightly retracted legs. Like the reverse side of an oil painting’s frame, the sofa utilises triangular braces to reinforce the corners – known in Swedish as bleck – a characteristic union of function and decoration.”
Members of the jury were Björn Dahlström, designer, Cilla Robach, first curator at Nationalmuseum and Dan Gordan, editor, Sköna hem.
Gärsnäs News 2017
Bruno Mathsson Prize
The prestigious Bruno Mathsson Prize will be awarded at a ceremony at Vandalorum on Saturday 17 June and simultaneously opens an exhibition of TAF’s work from the beginning in 2002 to the present day. On show will be architectural projects, furniture, fixtures and items for everyday use by a variety of producers. Integrated into the exhibition, TAF also invites the public to participate in a new work. Vandalorum’s exhibition can be seen 17 June ‒ 20 August 2017.
In a statement from the board of the Karin and Bruno Mathsson’s foundation fund:
“Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom: TAF has conscientiously evolved its style towards refined simplicity, using ingredients such as humour and portions of effrontery to create touching forms of address. A container on the street or a board of blocks are everyday sources of inspiration that challenge the development and creation of interesting, sustainable designs of archetypal products.”
TAF Arkitektkontor in brief:
Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom are celebrating 15 years as interior architects and furniture designers. After graduating from the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, they founded TAF Arkitektkontor. Their current assignments include an interior design project for the Swedish Institute in Paris and a major project for Nationalmuseum’s new restaurant and café opening in autumn 2018.
Congratulations from everyone at Gärsnäs!