Straight out of Sweden: new Skargaarden outdoor-designs for 2022

Scandinavia is known for being home to some of the world’s top indoor furniture manufacturers, but when it comes to outdoor furniture, it’s probably not the first region that springs to mind. Yet in the town of Gävle, on Sweden’s Baltic coast, a company called Skargaarden has been producing high-quality outdoor furniture since 2008. As it prepares to launch its 2022 novelties, the firm’s co-founder Jari Visuri explains why being based in Scandinavia helps Skargaarden to stand out in a challenging and competitive market.

According to Visuri, who founded Skargaarden with his wife, Anna, one of the main benefits of being based in Sweden is having access to the best Scandinavian design talent. Skargaarden works exclusively with designers from the region such as Alexander Lervik and Emma Olbers to develop furniture that combines the classic Scandinavian values of craftsmanship and simplicity with elements borrowed from American Shaker-style furniture and the Bauhaus school. The resulting products have a universal appeal that makes them suitable for use anywhere from a poolside terrace in Italy to the balcony of a Manhattan penthouse. ‘Scandinavian design works well in most parts of the world,’ says Visuri, who also designs furniture together with Anna under the name Studio Norrlandet. ‘Our biggest market after Sweden is actually California, so we can see that the simple style of our products has really helped our growth.’

Scandinavia’s unpredictable climate also informs the design of Skargaarden’s furniture. The company’s new releases for 2022 include a range of tables and chairs designed by Studio Norrlandet to survive even the most extreme conditions. The Koster collection takes its name from an archipelago on the west coast of Sweden where the weather can be very rough. The table and chairs are heavy enough to prevent them from tipping over in strong winds and are manufactured using extremely durable teak wood and acrylic rope.

The rope used for the seats is both comfortable and UV-resistant. Impressively, a prototype left outside Jari and Anna’s house for a full Swedish winter looked good as new the following spring. ‘At one point there was more than half a metre of snow on top of the chairs,’ Visuri recalls. ‘Alongside the specialist testing we do it’s great to see that the products can stand up to real-life conditions.’

In addition to the new Koster range, Skargaarden is launching an expansion of the award-winning Arholma furniture range designed by Alexander Lervik. The original café chair will be joined by new lounge chairs, a table, a sofa, and a sun bed. The upholstered items combine a powder-coated aluminium frame with durable upholstery that contributes to their comfort. According to Lervik, the organically shaped metal frames unify the products and give them a distinctive character. ‘I found an identity in the form that I later infused throughout the whole collection,’ says the designer, ‘so it is clear the pieces belong together.’

Arholma’s unusual take on typical Scandinavian design values gives it a unique aesthetic while still remaining extremely versatile – a trait which is highly valued within the contract sector. ‘I haven’t seen anything else that looks like Arholma on the outdoor furniture market,’ Visuri points out. ‘The really simple design means it can be used in almost any setting, indoors as well as outdoors.’

The updated Arholma collection and the all-new Koster range are set to bolster Skargaarden’s already comprehensive portfolio of premium outdoor furniture, which includes modular sofas, tables, chairs, benches, loungers, and all sorts of accessories that can be combined to create comfortable and stylish outdoor spaces. Each product is proudly designed in Scandinavia to fulfil the most demanding requirements, in terms of both style and quality.

Looking ahead, Visuri feels that Skargaarden has come a long way in a short amount of time, but believes there is plenty of scope for further growth. ‘Fourteen years on from when we started, it’s really satisfying to see our products now being used in some of the world’s top five-star hotels,’ he says with a sense of genuine pride. ‘Right now we’re still a small company but the goal is to make this little Swedish brand one of the bigger fish in this pond.’

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