Interview: Terese Alstin

Photo: Peter Olsson

I chatted with designer Terese Alstin shortly before the Southern Sweden Design Days held annually in Malmö each May. Alstin has a wealth of experience in the design industry. She is the co-founder of Hövding, an inflatable cycling helmet cleverly concealed in a neck collar. She operated No Sir, a showroom and online shop featuring independent women designers. And she is now the manager for strategic development of the design industry at the Form/Design Center, a platform for design, crafts and architecture. The center is housed in the remains of a centuries old farm in the Gamla Väster neighborhood of Malmö. When I visited, the café was buzzing with people chatting and flipping through magazines and multiple exhibitions were underway.   

I understand there can be a bit of a rivalry between the south and north in Sweden, does that apply in the context of design?

Terese Alstin: In the design industry there are lots of designers based in Malmö obviously, but I believe that they perhaps struggle a bit more because there are more opportunities for designers around Stockholm and the Stockholm area. So I guess there's a bit of a rivalry. But from my point of view, I try to initiate as much connections and collaborations with the rest of Sweden as possible because I see more benefits in working together.

How do you perceive the design landscape in Sweden at the moment?  

TA: There are opportunities that designers see in this region, there are lots of different benefits for designers working here compared to other places—in particular Stockholm. I think one of the benefits in working here is that it's cheaper. Obviously, rental costs can be quite expensive, to have your own studio anywhere in the central parts of Stockholm is obviously super expensive. Lots of designers these days do commissioned work, but also have their own studio production work. And for that they need lots of workshop space where they can work in larger scales. And its super expensive in Stockholm to have those kinds of facilities. And so that's what I hear, lots of designers think this is a huge advantage of southern Sweden. There are lots of empty industrial spaces here in Malmö that creatives can benefit from. And there are a lot of different collaborative or membership-based workshops in different materials and textiles.

The design industry in Sweden is based on a huge majority of really small independent businesses—like one person companies. It’s a lot of independent designers and they're usually very isolated from each other. They don't have too much support. There's no national industry association for designers in Sweden and no lobby organization for members who could support with legal advice or guides on what the typical contract should look like if you're a designer working on a commission or what you should ask for in payment. Political lobbying on a national level, that's really missing in this field. The national organizations that exist within the design industry are more focused on telling a broad public audience about what design can do. But it's not really supporting the individual designers working.

How does Sweden fare in this field in comparison to the other Nordics? Is there any sort of cultural reflection on design which is different here?

Photo: Daniel Engvall / Form Design Center

TA: Well, I have a personal analysis. Compared to Denmark, for instance, the tradition there is very different. I think—if you go way back—the occupation has a higher status and prestige compared to Sweden. In Sweden, we have a really strong engineer tradition, and the design occupation is quite a young occupation. We need to do a lot more to increase the status of the profession to catch up with our neighbor countries.

Can you speak a little about the pivots you have made in your own career?

TA: My background is that I am one of the founders of Hövding, and I worked with that for around ten years. When I left, I wanted to do my own thing for a while. I wanted to do something very passion-led and to support other designers, so I worked for a couple of years running a business called No Sir. It was based on working with cool female designers and artists, both Swedish and international. And had a blast doing that but it was also quite a lot of hard work—of course. It was fun building my own brand and then doing my own thing, and understanding what it was like to work on my own for a while. But in the end, I decided that it wasn't as motivating for me to be doing that on my own completely. I missed building something together with someone else or with other people. I felt it was a bit a bit lonely sometimes and it wasn't really what I wanted to do, so I decided to let go.

And at that time, I had actually planned to be part of a panel discussion at Form Design Center speaking about being a female designer in this industry. So I called Form Design Center and I said that I had decided to fold my business. And so they said, so what are you planning to do next? And I said, I don't know, do you have something interesting in mind? And my new role was to be the go-to person at Form Design Center for designers running their own businesses in southern Sweden. So my objective is to strengthen the field for the designers working—trying to create more visibility for designers, trying to find more networking opportunities for designers, and helping them find new ways of working.

What is making you excited about the field right now?

TA: What makes me excited is that I am not sure I could be doing this somewhere else in Sweden, just because there is a special kind of attitude here that I think is crucial for me. There are lots of different people who want to be part of something bigger—working together with others for a bigger goal—and the collaborative spirit and the openness of the region is very tangible. Lots of people who move from other places in Sweden speak highly of that kind of attitude and the generosity that they find within the community of designers here.

People are very helpful, very friendly, welcoming and you immediately become a part of the community. And people are very transparent with their information or experiences, sharing information about themselves, how much they charge or how much they get paid. That is helpful for others because they see there's a give and take. If I help someone else, it's going to come back to me. And I think that's very special for this region. In Stockholm, it's more competitive. They don't share information because they're afraid of someone else taking a job from them. I think that people here perhaps understand that to make it here, we have to join forces. Basically, we have to help each other out.

You have really championed female designers and been outspoken on the differences for genders working in the industry. Do you still feel like there are more challenges facing women in design in Sweden?

TA: Yeah, definitely. I think that's going to be the case for a long time, even though it is being addressed in different ways. I've heard firsthand from different designers working that they face bigger challenges than their male colleagues. One in particular, actually after struggling for quite a long time, she created a persona within her company that didn't exist—a male assistant that she gave a name, an email address and everything. And she referred to him whenever someone was being difficult—it could be a producer, a manufacturer, a client, whatever. And instantly, through that persona, everything became much easier. That is just one example. But sometimes you need to fight a lot harder if you're a female designer, and that's very unfair in every way. You get paid more if you're a guy, then if you're a female designer doing the same thing—it's been statistically proven—and it's typical also there are a lot more male designers within sectors of design that are higher paying.

You have said that people want to buy not just a beautiful product, but also the story behind it. Could you explain that?

TA: That is a trend right now, people enjoy unique objects and designs where you can get a sense of the person who made it or designed it. It's not enough anymore to just have mass produced items—the things that everyone can buy and have. People want more personalized items and more individual homes. And part of that is also bringing the story of how something was made or who thought it out, who was the person behind this object. Because that's an added value. If you bring home a unique object from a designer that you know the story behind, then you also have that story and that's worth something. People want to know more about the stories behind objects.