DIY Stockholm

Stockholm is cool, it’s creative and it’s packed with culture. It is not the place to go to be waited on hand and foot (if you want to be spritzed with Evian as you sunbathe, perhaps Dubai?). 



We touched down in sweltering August (no Evian spritzer in sight), to meet some likeminded thinkers at an exciting new digital agency. After scanning our own passports at the airport, carrying our own bags at the hotel and collecting our own cutlery at lunch, we had to wonder. Is Stockholm a lazy-free zone?



Fig friend Anna Kamjou, head of design at drinks brand Absolut, shed some light on this refreshing do-it-yourself culture over a nice cuppa (from a fill-it-yourself teabag naturally). She explained that Stockholm’s high labour costs and socio-democratic leanings have instilled something of an anti-pander ethos. With fewer people at your beck and call, design has to work much harder, which is a win-win situation in our book.



So, armed with some brand new thinking, we got off our butts and trotted happily to the Annie Leibovitz exhibition at the brand new Fotografiska Museum. 
 


Essentials

Stay: Hotel Skeppsholmen 

Run: Skeppsholmen to Djurgarden 

Eat: B.A.R (behind the Grand hotel) 

Shop: Acne

See: Fotografiska Museum