Scandinavian style is one of the most recognizable forces in contemporary visual culture, yet it is still often described as if it were a simple recipe that can be copied anywhere in the world. Light wood, white walls, clean lines, a few textiles, some potted plants - and supposedly you are done. In reality nothing could be further from the truth. This way of arranging space did not arrive as a manifesto or a neat program. It grew slowly out of everyday life and the experience of people who wanted their homes to be easier to live in and kinder to spend time in. Today it has become one of the clearest calling cards of Northern Europe. It is an export product, a visual language that people from Tokyo to New York can read instantly, even if they have never set foot in Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen or Helsinki. We see it in homes, offices, hotels, cars and interior catalogues, often without realizing how deeply it is rooted in the history, climate and social changes of the region. Why did this particular way of thinking about space and objects travel so easily, and what does it really say about the people who create in Scandinavia and those who choose to live surrounded by their work?














