ZERO

“The family company Zero manufactures and sells attractive light fittings for all types of space. We use up-to-date technology and our designers are innovative problem solvers who often surprise us. All 80 percent of our subcontractors are located directly nearby. This is both environmentally sound and offers great flexibility when it comes to varying and modifying projects. Innovation, quality, attraction and durability have been our watchwords since our beginnings in 1978.

Oh, so who are you? The question crops up now and then, mostly at trade fairs abroad. And the answer is automatically “Oh well, Zero is a family company that makes and sells attractive lighting fittings for all spaces. We use the latest technologies and are innovative problem-solvers…”. But then the follow-up question sometimes cuts us off “But why do your products look the way they do?”. That’s when we really get to talk about what Zero does so specially. So uniquely.

Imagine a barren winter landscape in deepest Scania. The darkness, nigh impenetrable when the clouds cover the moonlight. But as it does penetrate, the glitter of the snow is all the more magical. That’s what we are trying to capture at Zero. Just as much as its opposite — the soft sheen of Nordic summer light, which is not only the delight of artists. From light, dark and the shadows in our environment, we and our designers create the unique Zero range. Where we are — in Pukeberg, outside Nybro, the hub of Swedish glass production, and the area where 80 percent of our subcontractors are, right by us.

Of course, our history contributes to our identity — how, in 1978, our founders long experience of glass yielded to an entire decade devoted almost entirely to perforated sheet metal fittings. Because the designer Börge Lindau was clearly decided that this very sheet metal should contribute to Zero’s being both noticed and recognised as a modern, innovative and forward-looking company. And how right he was. Expansion occurred, and from its original garage, the company moved to an industrial zone in central Nybro and successful collaboration ensued with the designer Per Sundstedt, who preferred to design glass fittings.

The years passed, and in 2005, a whole new period began in Zero’s life. We started collaborating with the most recognised Swedish designers of the day, such as Mattias Ståhlbom, Thomas Bernstrand, Fredrik Mattson and Front. Now we were also ready to appear in an international setting, at the Milan Salone del Mobile. We have carried on doing that, and our successes have led to almost half of our fittings being designed from 2005 onwards.

Today, Zero is an internationally well-established company with designers from near and far. We have mastered several different materials, which we don’t mind matching with the latest technologies. And we produce it all where we started, with the ambition of creating that little bit more. The surprisingly unexpected. The unique.”