Fika Festival

Fika is a Swedish hardly translatable word, whose basic meaning is “to have a coffee”. It though refers to a true social institution in Sweden, involving a more undefined concept: meeting a friend, sharing life stories with a coffee or a bun. Raumplan set up a collective exhibition at Cascina Cuccagna by inviting 5 designers to dwell on this peculiar Swedish habit.

The whole set-up is based on the idea of performing rather than showing products. The layout of the space is designed to encourage people to rest around a long table made to measure for the event.

The design of the table is a reinterpretation of one of the projects contained in Enzo Mari’s book Autoprogettazione?. The original supporting structure system has been multiplied: eight legs sustain the heavy surface mede of refurbished scaffold planks. The coffee stands, right next to the table, are made of the elements of the main table, transposed to a thinner and taller coffee table, which encloses the old washbasin. The contrasting heights of the tables create a visual asymmetry which underlines their different destination of use.

People are invited to sit around and have a fika. They can have a chat with other guests and enjoy a cup of coffee: a light wooden structure hosts the bar where hot coffee is served.

5 days, 5 designers, 5 happenings. In the exhibition different practices coexist and interact: industrial designers, experience and food designers, product and print designers. Each of them creates his own event, interpreting the mood of fika.