The versatile Swedish designer Alexander Lervik has created artful, contemplative pieces for top Scandinavian brands like Skargaarden, ADEA, Design House Stockholm, Johanson and Aritco, makers of residential elevators. But in 20 years, he never had a forum for showcasing them or revealing the vast spectrum of inspirations that drive them.

This winter, Lervik put that right by opening a small space beside his Stockholm workshop to examine the questions and solutions around some of his more experimental designs.

Unikat Gallery, in Stockholm’s creative enclave of Södermalm, inhabits the narrow frontier between art and design. ‘I want to show more experimental objects to develop as a designer,’ he says, ‘but also to approach the industry as I think it will look in the future.’

The designer has implemented a programme of experimental exhibitions that will change every few months. The first features the new sculptural coffee table Fragile Opposites and a chair called Fragile Senses. The granite and glass duo are metaphors for our current reality, ‘where the fate of the entire world depends on thin, fragile agreements between countries,’ he says.

And during Stockholm Design Week, which concluded last weekend, he introduced Hemvist, a limited series of conceptual furniture that explores artisanal techniques and waste management. He built the chairs and tables using leftover wood from a staircase project he designed for the brand Drömmtrappor, exhibited at the design fair. To join each piece, he followed the same ‘pegs and wedges’ design process he’d developed for the staircase, so the wood is not the only link between the two projects.

The gallery is open on request by contacting the workshop at unikatgallery@lervik.se.

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