Siri Bergholtz – Scholarship recipient, Young Swedish Design 2026
Scholarship: String Furniture
Development grant to explore and further develop products.
Presence, Tott
Presence is a design project that explores children's place in public spaces and the need for intergenerational play in urban environments. The project is based on tactile, modular seating furniture called Tott and studies how play can arise spontaneously in everyday contexts, as well as how public furniture can support children with motor restlessness or high sensory needs.
Tott is designed to be flexible and robust. The furniture is turned from solid birch and treated with linseed oil, giving it a look that emphasizes materiality, durability, and craftsmanship. This contrasts with the standardized plastic and metal furniture that often characterizes children's public environments.
The project also explores how furniture can serve as a gathering point for different generations. When children, parents, and grandparents use the same objects, it creates opportunities for encounters and interaction across age boundaries.
Presence challenges established norms in public procurement, where the focus is often on cost and maintenance. As an alternative, a practice is proposed in which furniture is regarded both as a functional object and as a design object, with the potential to create places for presence, tactile experience, and shared play.