Back to Basics

Sven Arvidsson has worked with a house made out of polyurethane foam.

In the early 1960's, industrial improvements and economic growth provided a surplus of things in the western world. Consumerism won triumphs and the trend was to change your style at home, exchanging little used furniture for brand-new. Today, uneven distribution of resources and products forces more and more people to reflect on their ways of consuming. At the same time, home styling has––during the last decade––become immensely popular with magazines and TV-shows as one contributory cause. Arvidsson found that these magazines' returning advice is that it all comes down to having an individual style. So why not craft and design your home from scratch, all on your own, he asks?

In the late 1960's and early 1970's the Danish designer Verner Panton experimented with a radical series of upholstered environments. He wanted »to encourage people to use their fantasy and make their surroundings more exciting«. He has created several upholstered seating systems, the ›Pantower‹ from 1968 being one of them. This series of designs was inspired by Panton's philosophy that a set of furniture should interact with itself as »a kind of chair landscape, which refuses to be just functional«.

Combining Pantons ideas and those of rationing used during the post war era, Arvidsson has worked with a concept, allowing you to craft your own house from one single block of polyurethane foam. You have to plan as you make your way through your house, starting with your front door. All that you take away should be used, either as furniture or storage, resulting in furniture both fixed to the wall and movable. The single house block is your ration, your limitation, challenge and contribution to the non-consumption lifestyle. You buy your whole home only once.

sven.arvidsson@konstfack.info

Press images: 1⋅ 2
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Photographer: 1 Andreas Nyquist, 2 Sven Arvidsson