ABOUT
alvidesign is founded by Åsa Alvi Kärner based in Stockholm Sweden.
"In my design I want to, in a playful way, combine and push the limits between modern, functional design, art and handcraft."
Åsa is a designer and artist educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Design in Copenhagen, Denmark, BA in Furniture design and Interior architecture. Nyckelviksskolan, Architecture and Design, in Stockholm, is one of her pre-university educations.
Her work has been shown in many exhibitions including Stockholm Furniture Fair, CODE design in Copenhagen and Designers Day´s in Paris. alvisilkchair was selected by the Nordic Council to represent Sweden at the Gothenburg Book Fair in 2012, when the Nordic Council celebrated 60 years.
EXHIBITIONS
Photographer Maja Brand
"I have placed great emphasis on creating and developing furniture and products that are environment-friendly and sustainable in both materials and production, locally manufactured in Sweden. I have chosen to work with FSC labeled wood from the northern latitudes. This allows me to have total control over the production and over the working condition and minimizes long transports. The silkthread for alvisilkchair is an exception, it is made in Thailand.
I found it through a woman in Sweden, who had a silkproduction in Thailand in her home village. She had put so much effort in creating humane work opportunities for her village. In contrast to many other silkproducers, they do not burn the silkworm. Instead they let it turn into a butterfly and then harvested the silkthread. They coloured the silkthread in environment-friendly colours. The water was so clean and untoxic after the colouring so they water the surroundings with it.
I have received great help from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and various research institutes to find an optimal design solution. For example I couldn't find any coating, white wax, to alvisilkchair that didn't have toxic impact. I contacted The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Beckers Acroma and together we developed an environment-friendly white wax.
My latest design alvichandelier is made of recycled material."
ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY DESIGN
