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Fika Festival

#69 Studio Electrico starts from the Swedish habit of “fika” – sharing life stories with a coffee – inviting other designers to share their take on “have a break”. #salone2015

Fika Festival is a collective exhibition where each designer explores the theme of “having a break”. Born from an idea by Studio Electrico, four designers with different backgrounds (two Swedes, an Italian and a Taiwanese), it is a common ground for discussions, open to any interpretation.

Like in a Morandi still life, the visitor enters in a metaphysical framework where the objects’ plastic presence accompanies the eye with its grey and brown shades. A still life is the fixed scene for our layout. A relaxing landscape emphasizes the juxtaposition between the Salone rush and the pacific garden of Cascina Cuccagna. The materials used are up-cycled wood and metal: a paradigm of the natural cycle of products, where the set-up gives a new purpose to discarded objects. Original textures are the ground for the visual look and feel, from the walls of the barn, to every single detail.

Fika Festival, vista dell'allestimento in Cascina Cuccagna — Fika Festival, view of the exhibition at Cascina Cuccagna

With the Give & Take Café, Studio Electrico is questioning the norm of value in money in relation to other non-tangible acts of currencies. Is the value of an act the same as a coin or a bill? Is untold knowledge more valuable than actual credit? In this setup currency and purchase are used as tools to put the participants in an unique situation. A situation where acts of kindness and help is as valuable as real money

Josefin Vargö & Pomme van Hoof’s project Talking Taste is a poetic investigation into our sense of taste: together with the public the two designers search for associations within the sensory field to then offer a personal taste encounter.

Sofia Lazzeri’s installation White Noise is an aesthetic exploration dealing with our perception and interaction with reality taking the form of a white landscape, where subtle and massive visual interferences generate different amounts of noise. Att Fika, developed by Andrea Pariani, is a small series which tries to explain the sincerest thing in Sweden: it is the emblem of Sweden’s här du kan göra allting själv, men inte va ensam (“here you can do everything by yourself, but never be alone”).

Marta Polenghi has decided to explore the theme of “having a break” within an everyday context. Focusing on gestures, habits and spontaneous situations happening in an apartment when friends come over, she created Fold to relax, a rug that can be used to sit or lean on. Using the floor in a more active way, an informal context is created, in order to enjoy together a moment of relax, music, coffee.

At Fika Festival you can also meet Oslo-based students and young professionals with their independent magazine Kote, that writes about urbanism, landscape and local development.