Foreword ‘100% Norway’

Norwegian design is no longer a well-kept secret. Thanks to initiatives such as the exhibition ‘100% Norway’, young designers and established design-orientated companies have both had the opportunity to show their work to an international audience.

This year, ‘100% Norway’, which takes place in London for the seventh time, is even more varied than in previous years and covers most areas of interior design, from furniture to lamps and wallpaper to even a knitting clock! Not all products will become best-sellers; some might not even make it onto the market. However, this is part of the natural process from artistic creativity to clever manufacturing and to covering the human need for either beauty or practical purposes – or both.

The Norwegian designers of today are not always faithful to the heritage of the proud era of Scandinavian design, but many are nonetheless inspired by it. Their designs still hold high the ideals of modesty, simplicity and purity; the soul of the country and the ideals of their ancestors.

Norwegian products are designed for a reason – most likely for a function. The demand for simplicity ensures pieces of design that are easy to understand. The purity gives you products that are made from high-quality and, to a large extent, natural materials. And modesty results in understatements, rather than overstatements where wood, wool and leather often are the preferred materials. And above all, the Norwegian design industry aims at being sustainable, both in the production and its products.

Today’s young designers’ works are versatile and cross different fields; one designer can be present in furniture, in glass and in lamps. This way they improve their skills and knowledge of technology, materials and processes – thus enabling the flow of competence between industries. Joint exhibitions like ‘100% Norway’ also inspire companies and designers to cooperate in the fields of export, marketing and design.

Representing Norway on the international arena is something I do all the time as foreign minister, and just like our designers and manufacturers, I have the same aims: to tell the story of our country and to provide foreign markets with pieces of our culture. Welcome to ‘100% Norway’!

More information at the Embassy's web site.