Cancellation of 2026 Stockholm Furniture Fair the best thing that could happen for local industry

The cancellation of this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair was a necessary wake-up call for the Swedish design industry, insiders told Dezeen during a grassroots event they organised to take its place.

Last October, with exhibitor take-up for the fair's 2026 edition proving sluggish, organisers Stockholmsmässan made the controversial decision to call off not just this year's trade show, but also the citywide design week that accompanies it.

Despite the lack of an official event, a groundswell of Swedish brands, studios, PR companies and independent designers ended up banding together to put on more than 200 events across the city last week as part of an impromptu design festival – even more than in 2025, when the fair was in session.

Many of them now see the cancellation as a necessary kick up the ass for the industry to take the initiative and invest time, money and effort in the local design scene.

"In the last year, everything felt kind of lost," Note Design Studio co-founder Cristiano Pigazzini told Dezeen. "But now, when you are pushed to do something, suddenly it's like: oh, we are here and we are many."

"Stockholm and Sweden as a design nation are alive – after this year, probably more than ever," he added. "We've realised that we cannot close in on ourselves. We are much stronger as a community."

"I think the collapse of the fair this year is probably the best thing that could ever happen to the industry," agreed Niklas Madsen, co-founder of design studio Superlab.

Sweden must "reclaim role as a design nation"

Sweden's storied design scene has been in limbo for the past few years, as its central furniture fair – the largest in Scandinavia – has been losing both visitors and exhibitors since returning from its Covid hiatus in 2023.

Combined with the comparative rise of Denmark's 3 Days of Design festival, which has quickly become one of the key dates in the industry calendar, this left some local brands and studios unsure whether a dedicated event for the Swedish design scene was still needed – and what it should look like.

"It's been a bit of a mess in some years," said Nordiska Galleriet's Hanna Nova Beatrice, former director of Stockholm Furniture Fair.

"People have just been super divided in how we should do things and so on. And now maybe they understand that we have to be completely united, and we need to help the design week become great again."

"The whole idea of Swedish design is really dependent on this design week and the fair to exist," she added. "We're a very small country with a strong design scene, but we need to join forces and do it together."

"It will affect Sweden in so many bad ways if we don't do this," agreed Karin Sköldberg of PR company Trendgruppen, who organised the collective exhibition Echo, bringing together several Nordic brands and designers under one roof.

"It's our way to contribute to reclaim our role as a design nation," she explained. "We have the designers. And we are one of the few countries in the world that still has the production line."

"Stockholm has been pretty lost for a couple of years"

Some of the most notable shows throughout the week saw rival brands put their differences aside to put on joint exhibitions and events, while also platforming more emerging local designers.

For The Building, an exhibition in Stockholm's former Chamber of Commerce, big-name brands including String Furniture and Sweden's oldest furnituremaker Gemla joined forces with buzzy, young companies like lighting manufacturer HAHA Studio.

Meanwhile, the ground floor of the 17th-century townhouse was given over to a cohort of independent designers, including Simon Skinner, Nils Askhagen and Truls Goldschmidt.

"Everybody is helping each other, so we're not really seeing ourselves as competitors," said HAHA Studio's Arash Eskafi. "We see it as: okay, now that the design community lost its fair, it's upon us, the design brands, to get together and do something nice instead."

"Stockholm has been pretty lost for a couple of years," he added. "Copenhagen, they have 3 Days of Design, which has been really successful."

"And here, it's been like, okay, is it only the fair? Do we have anything outside? Maybe this can be like a catalyst for doing something nice in the city in the future as well."

"I think we need a strong design week in the city for the fair to be relevant," agreed Ulrika Kjellström Attar, who organised several events under the umbrella of Stockholm Creative Edition.

"It will be interesting to see next year, if we can have this sort of energy if the fair is still out there," she added. "We'll see how the fair responds, if they are interested in us doing these kinds of events, because we would potentially be a competitor as they want to sell their space at the fair."

Cancellation offers "opportunity to take back control"

Following this year's hiatus, Stockholm Design Week is set to resume next year as an annual event, while the Stockholm Furniture Fair will return in a biennale format, despite the demolition threat hanging over its Älvsjö venue.

Most brands and designers agree that they still see the value of the fair as a central meeting and marketplace.

But the cost per square metre has become prohibitive for many exhibitors in recent years – especially compared to how much they paid for a much grander setting in the city this year.

"We have designed a lot of fair stands for brands, and we're talking millions to be out at the fair," explained Superlab's Niklas Madsen.

For one particular brand, Madsen was told, the price was equivalent to flying different architects out to Stockholm to see their showroom for a whole year, which is what the company is now choosing to do instead.

Of course, Stockholm Furniture Fair isn't the only design trade show to struggle with declining exhibitor numbers since the pandemic.

But a particular issue in this case, according to Madsen, is that the event is run by a fair company with no dedicated focus on design, in contrast to Milan's Salone del Mobile, which is owned by the Italian furniture trade federation.

"It's all about money," said Niklas Madsen. "They just want to sell square meters for the highest price and that's it."

"The fair, their business is not promoting design," agreed Note's Cristiano Pigazzini. "The fair's business is to sell square meters. So how has the design community given all the power to a business that has other interests than to push for you?"

Given this context, the industry should take this year's hiatus as a chance to take greater ownership of their fair, Pigazzini argues.

"I think it's a good opportunity to take back control," he said. "Take responsibility, do something."

"I believe in the idea of a fair, very, very much – it gathers people under one roof, where you can also have talks and innovation programmes and so on," Beatrice added. "But we all need to join forces on where it is, how it is, and what it should include."

Stockholm's unofficial design week took place at various locations across the Swedish capital between 3 and 7 February 2026. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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