Once a year, hundreds of exhibitors (just over 800) and thousands of visitors (almost 40,000) descend upon Stockholm's impressive International Fairs Center to show and see the best design the land of the Vikings has to offer. From the home of IKEA, expect nothing less than pioneering designs. Independent designers, forward thinking manufacturers and students of the top-notch Nordic design schools presented the latest design concepts for any environment, hand-picked by an international group of style gurus.

And MOD was there to take it all in… thank goodness the weather was a bit warmer than most normal frigid Februaries in the Nordland…can you say yaah?

All of our favorite designers were in attendance from the “Men in Black” Martin Claesson, Eero Koivisto, and Ola Rune (CKR to those who don’t know any better) leading the way with many new designs for almost as many companies… and Thomas Sandell, Bjorn Dahlstrom, Monica Forester, Norway Says, Thomas Eriksson, the list goes on and on…and don’t forget our favorite manufacturers Offecct, Swedese, David Design, Johanson, and Asplund – trotting out the latest designs that will no doubt change our very way of living….

This year, one of the highlights was the special guest appearance by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Two of our favorite French designers… who showed that they can compete with good ol’ Scandinavian design in a slightly more complicated and intellectual way.. but hey, I guess that’s the difference between wine and cheese and vodka and fish eggs… ok so good design is good design, and there is quite a bit of it considering Sweden has a population half the size of New York State.…

The best stuff as always was the student projects in the Greenhouse area and the cutting edge designs in Hall B are always a crowd pleaser. Of course the most memorable moments were the after fair affairs that included dancing till the wee hours in tightly packed clubs filled with the most beautiful people that side of the Atlantic… boy those Swedes sure know how to party!

Check out the slide show to see some of the latest designs… unfortunately the party pics didn’t turn out…sorry.