Working through methods of abstraction and comedic mimicry I choreograph awkwardly balanced sculpture with objects of adornment as a means to defuse personal sensitivities surrounding my experiences of gender, desire, and home. The research that follows is concerned with the adjacent, the in between, above and underneath, because I feel that this kind of looking means that you are, to some degree, aware of what lies at the edges. Maybe this is what Gertrude Stein means to act as though there is no use in a center—because this concerns a way of relating, though there are many things in the room. ‘A spectacle and nothing strange’ is an arrangement of gestures, of made difference, of kinships, of orientations and possible futures, sustained tension, coded adornment, big dyke energy, shifts in hardness, leaning softness, much more than flowers, ...and in any case there is sweetness and some of that.

Denna uppsats beskriver möbelarkitekten Axel Einar Hjorths karriär och produktion med fokus på åren 1927-32, hans första sex år som chefsarkitekt på Nordiska Kompaniet. Genom att undersöka några samtida tidskrifter försöker uppsatsen även utröna hur Hjorth mottogs under sin egen tid, samt varför han var förtigen i svenskdesignhistoria så länge. I uppsatsen ingår flera möbelanalyser vilka syftar till att beskriva Hjorths stil och bredd samt tidens smak. Uppsatsen visar att Axel Einar Hjorth ofta ritade internationellt orienterade möbler i ren art déco, men också stilmöbler, funktionalistiska seriemöbler m.m. Art déco var en stilriktning under mellankrigstiden, men i Sverige talar vi ofta om ”Swedish Grace” eftersom mycket konsthantverk under denna tid fick ett något svalare klassicistiskt uttryck än övriga länders. I Sverige har art décon eller ”Swedish Grace” ofta hamnat i skuggan av funktionalismen, som fick större genomslagskraft. Det är en av anledningarna till att ingen akademisk text tidigare har skrivits om Axel Einar Hjorth. / This essay describes the carrier and production of the architect Axel Einar Hjorth, with an emphasis on the years 1927-1932, his first six years as head architect at Nordiska Kompaniet. The essay also tries to inquire into how Hjorth was recieved by contemporary press and explain why he was forgotten about for many years. The study shows that the furniture designs of Axel Einar Hjorth was very international in it´s style. Instead of calm classicism the furnitures often have strong references to art déco, a style that didn´t grew big in Sweden. The essay includes several furniture analyses where the aim is to show Hjorths versatility. Hjorth designed both art déco furnitures, period furnitures and more modernistic furnitures etc. One of the reasons why so little has been written about Axel Einar Hjorth and art déco in Sweden is that the funktionalism won the debate with it´s socialistic ideas, which made art déco a short-lived style.

The word endogenic means growing or proceeding from within, it is commonly used to describe the process of tectonic movement and earth crust formation caused by the extrusion of magmatic material. My project is a metaphorical exploration of the geological term “endogenic process” as well as an exploration of a design approach based on the term.The work explores soft form-bearing structures and textile bodies that contrast in relation to the hard framework of the rectangular room. It touches on material hierarchies in the living environment and the field of spatial design. The research explores the relationship between interior bodies and spatial frameworks. It aims to highlight the importance of the subject within the framework of the rectangular space that divides the interior of most buildings. My work involves exploring the endogenic process as a way of relating to the creative process and through the use of soft structures and drapery creating furniture that engages people with the spatial framework of the rectangular room. It is an exploration of spatial furniture that constitutes a connection and physical involvement between bodies and space, a kind of furniture providing a multiplicity of possibilities.

I detta examensarbete utforskar jag hur en kan arbeta med en designprocess i möbler för en skolmiljö med ett bredare fokus än vad möblerna på marknaden är idag. Genom att utgå från barn i klassrummet med varierande behov, hoppas jag på att designa skolmöbler som passar fler individer. Med det har jag utgått i designprocessen med perspektivet och arbetsmetoden – Design for all och tagit fram en möbel som kan placeras in en skolmiljö i dagens klassrum. Min förhoppning är att kunna formge skolmöbler som inkluderar hjälpmedel som stimulerar och hjälper till i elevens arbete. Syftet med att fördjupa mig i ämnet skolmöbler är att jag vill fördjupa mig i skolans värld och lära känna miljöerna som möblerna sätts in i. Detta med en önskan att sedan i arbetslivet arbeta med att ta fram anpassade möbler. Arbetet inleds med en teoretisk undersökning där jag gör platsbesök på skolor, har samtal med pedagoger och med en fysioterapeut vid namn Ulrika Myhr som jag har samarbetat med samt dialog med handledare. Med ett valt fokus på mellanstadiet arbetar jag utifrån ett befintligt klassrum tillhörande en fyra bestående av två mentorer och 34 elever. Där har jag en dialog med eleverna och pedagogerna om hur de ser på och arbetar i sin miljö. Därefter gör jag egna analyser från de resultaten och gör ett förslag på möbler tänkta för det klassrum jag arbetat med. Därpå går jag över till en praktisk undersökning där jag har en kontinuerlig dialog om ergonomi med Ulrika Myhr samt jag testar hur ergonomi och design möts tillsammans i en form som till slut blir min design. Min slutsats visar på att det är svårt att få in alla funktioner i en möbel och tillgodose alla elever även ifall om man designar utifrån perspektivet design for all. Men däremot går det att designa för fler och för fler än vad det görs nu. Jag drar också slutsatsen att ha involverat eleverna själva i designprocessen har visat på att de har tydligt själva vet vad de vill ha och deras åsikter har gjort att mitt arbete har gett ett så gott resultat. / In this degree project, I explore how one can work with design processes in furniture for a school environment with a broader focus than the furniture on the market today. By focusing on children in a classroom, all with a broad spectrum of different needs, I hope to design school furniture that suits more individuals. I have started this particular design process with the perspective, and working method, of "design for all"; and produced a piece of furniture that can be placed in a school environment in today's classroom. My hope is to be able to design school furniture that includes features which can stimulate and assist the student's work. The further purpose of this project is that I want to immerse myself in the world of today's pupils, getting to know the environments that the furniture they use is placed in. My hope is that this will aid me in my further desire to then work on creating customized furniture in my professional working life. My working process begins with a theoretical investigation where I make on-site visits to schools, have conversations with educators and with a physiotherapist named Ulrika Myhr, with whom I have also collaborated, as well as dialogue with supervisors. With a chosen focus on the ages of 9-12, which constitutes the Swedish school system's later primary school years, I work on-site with access to a fourth-grade class and classroom, consisting of two mentors and 34 students. There, I have a dialogue with the students and teachers about how they view and use their working environment. I then make my own analyzes from those results which leads to a proposal for new furniture intended for the classroom I worked with. I then move on to a practical investigation where I have an on-going dialogue about ergonomics with Ulrika Myhr, and I test how ergonomics and design meet in the form that ultimately becomes my design. My conclusion shows that it is difficult to include all necessary functions in a piece of furniture while still satisfying the needs of all students, even if you design it from the perspective of "design for all". But on the other hand, it is possible to design for more people than is currently being done. I also conclude that having involved the students themselves in the design process has shown that they clearly know what they want, and their opinions have given the results of my work a greater legitimacy in its relevance.