Thursday July 9th, I woke up at 5:30am to catch a 7am train. We all made it on time and were oh so groggy. We got on the first train that goes from Copenhagen to Malmo, Sweden and even if it was only a 45 minute train ride, we all managed to fall asleep.In Malmo we switched to the train to Stockholm. It took us 5 hours to get there and of course we slept for the majority of the ride. Once we got off the train, we walked through the most beautiful metro station and took the subway to the Zinkensdamm Hostel.
I was in a room with Katie R. and Natalie so we got up to our room and dropped our stuff, came back to the lobby of the hostel and we all went to our first activity. One would think a study trip would be somewhat academic based…this study trip started off amazingly. Our first stop was at a store that sold products by the designers Tio-Gruppen. They were a group of 10 designers who got together to make a more modern/graphic look to textiles. It was fascinating to hear about them and see their bold patterns all over the shop. We were given a break for lunch and then headed to the center of Stockholm to go to SvensktTenn, where the designs of Josef Frank are sold. Josef Frank was a half-Jewish textile designer furniture designer and architect from Vienna in the 1920s and was found by a Swedish woman who owned an artistic pewter shop and interior design company.
Josef moved to Sweden and worked for her until he had to move to the US because of WWII. But the most important thing about Josef Frank are that his designs are magnificent! They are so colorful and bold, beautiful and delicate and I am obsessed with them. After taking pictures of everything in the store, we walked to Gamla Stan, the old city of Stockholm. Natalie wanted to see the palace and get a peak at the royals but all we saw were the guards and their funny shaped helmets. That night our group ate dinner at a delicious vegetarian restaurant and walked back to our hostel.
The next day we got up very early because we had to take a 3 hour bus ride to Leksand (northern Sweden). We all managed to catch up on the sleep we all needed and woke up to find ourselves in rainy weather and at Jobs Handtryck, a place where they produce the textile designs of the Jobs family by hand printing at their own facility.
It was amazing to see how large designs are silk screened in bulk for merchandise and not at the University of Michigan, School of Art & Design. After that we headed back onto the bus and got lost for another hour and a half until we reached Sundborn. Most people ate a hearty traditional Swedish meal filled with cheese and red meat while I ate lots of salad. After that we walked around the restaurant and ended up at Carl Larsson’s house. Carl Larsson was a famous Danish painter who had an amazingly quirky and modern look to interior design. His house had hand painted murals on the walls and ceilings, portrait of his family in different walls over the house and his wife had an amazing eye for modern needle point, weaving and embroidery. Our guide was hilarious and made so many funny English jokes while giving the tour. Finally we spent 3 more hours driving back to Stockholm and of course we slept. Because we had basically slept for most of the day, we were all pretty wired up and ready to do something that night. Katie C, Katie R, Natalie, Sarah and I headed to find what we had been craving all day, Indian food, and we had found it! It was a small restaurant with beautiful mosaics and delicious food. I wish Kavita were there to witness how spicy the chicken vindaloo was and that I survived eating it…and it was amazing! After dinner we went searching for a bar and ended up in an American bar where the red socks were playing on the TVs. If only another bar was open that night…oh well. We drank and had a great time then came back to the hostel and went to bed.
The next day is something Sarah, Natalie and I called “America’s Next Top Model” day. If you know the show this will be easy to understand, if not I will explain. First of all I would just like to mention I only watch the show when there is a marathon on and I am home for a long period of time…aka when I come back from school and that is the only thing on. Secondly, there is one episode in every season when the last few models remaining go on something called a go-see (meaning they have a list of designers who they need to see and in a way audition to get a booking for a fashion show).
On the show, they are told to come back at a certain time, and if they are late they lose the challenge. Our assignment on Saturday was to go to as many of the design stores on the sheet of paper we were given and sketch as much as we can that we find interesting and beautiful in the stores then come back by 1pm for lunch. Sarah, Natalie and I rushed out the door and started on our merry way. On the show, they are in a different country so they need to deal with mode of transportation and language as a crutch. For us, we didn’t know how to pronounce the names of streets so it was very difficult to get around. Two guys came up to us and asked if we were Swedish and when we answered no, they were thrilled because they were Swedish and needed Americans to help them with a bachelor party scavenger hunt so we helped them out (called their friend and told them a clue) and they helped us in return by giving directions. We made it to David Designs, Asplund, Design Torget, Nordic Gallery and then headed back to the Kulturhuset for lunch. We didn’t make it to all the galleries and showrooms but we made it to most. Lunch was eaten and then we headed to Lilijevalchs Museum where there was an exhibit on Ikea through out the decades (IT WAS SO INTERESTING) and the Nordiska Museum where we sketched old Swedish textiles. That night Sarah, Natalie and I went out for really nice Swedish Pizza (and they made mine without cheese!!!) and we bonded so much, it was very nice. 
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