Swedish House Mafia Star Invests In Swedish Company Set Out To Save The Planet

-

February 20, 2019

Sweden’s second largest bank, Handelsbanken, has just appointed it’s first ever female Chief Executive Officer, Carina Åkerström.

She will be replacing the current CEO, Anders Bouvin at the end of March. The announcement of Bouvin stepping down came around the same time as the bank announced a baffling reduction of 1,600 full-time jobs by the end of 2022.

Åkerström started working at Handelsbanken’s Kalmar branch in her early twenties in 1986. Before being appointed the new CEO, she held the role of Deputy Group Chief Executive, owning responsibilities over the bank’s large corporate customers and general business operations in the Stockholm.

“As CEO, Akerstrom will be joining a small but growing club of women holding the top job in Sweden’s financial industry. Others include Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen, Danske Bank Sweden CEO Berit Behring and former SEB CEO Annika Falkengren.”, Bloomberg writes.

These Are The Most Expensive Houses For Sale in Sweden Right Now

By

-

February 15, 2019

1. Strandvägen 11A, Djursholm, Danderyd – 60 000 000 kr/ $ 6,469,211

‘”With one of Djursholm’s most exclusive locations on Strandvägen, this family villa offers fantastic views of the water. A total area of 5296 sqft. A large beautiful garden plot of 31689 sqft.”

2. Disavägen 7, Djursholm, Danderyd – 44 000 000 kr/ $ 4,744,088

“Magnificent villa built in 1906 situated in one of Djursholm’s most sought after addresses overlooking Framnäsviken’s water in the southeast. The villa is built in stone and has an attractive architecture with elements of both national romance and Art Nouveau.”

3. Rönnbacken 6, Saltsjöbaden / Solsidan, Nacka – 43 000 000 kr/ $ 4,636,268

“Little Glimmingehus has previously been featured in the New York Times. Attractively situated in Solsidan in Saltsjöbaden and with a rich cultural history value, this unique villa is celebrating 100 years this year. The art professor at KTH and architect Charles Lindholm designed the house in 1918 and built it for his own use. The tiled villa was designed in a medieval-inspired national romance and resembled a miniature Glimminge house, and is therefore called Lilla Glimmingehus.”

4. Belevägen 7B, Djursholm, Danderyd – 37 500 000 kr / $ 4,043,512

“Here is the opportunity to acquire one of Djursholm’s finest houses noticed for its beautiful garden and also nominated by Djursholms Villaägarförening to the Stora Renoveringspriset. MagnificentArt Nouveau villa built in 1912 after drawings by Gustaf Axel Lindgren.”

5. Rådjursvägen 32, Tylösand, Halmstad – 36 300 000 kr / $ 3,914,120

“Vacker och varm villa med ett luxuöst exteriört uttryck, där stor hänsyn tagits till en privat atmosfär. Här bor du bredvid golfbanan och med en storslagen havsutsikt.”

All images are borrowed from hemnet.com

Interview: Karin Rosenquist-Schager From Love, STHLM

By

Natalie Söderberg

-

February 13, 2019

It’s not always easy leaving your home country for a new life somewhere else. Karin Rosenquist-Schager, the designer, illustrator, calligrapher and entrepreneur behind the brand Love, STHLM left half her heart in her home country Sweden while pursuing a degree, career and family life in the United States. Thanks to Love, STHLM, she gets to combine her passion for design with her love for Sweden.

We sat down with Karin, who had recently just moved to Chicago from California, to hear more about the brand that strikes a cord in so many Swedish-American hearts.

1. Where in Sweden are you from originally and why did you decide to move to the U.S.?

I grew up on Ekerö, outside Stockholm and moved to Los Angeles in the year of 2000 to pursue an art degree, first at Santa Monica College and then at Cal State Long Beach.

2. Your company Love, Sthlm pays tribute to your hometown and Sweden. Why did you decide to start the company?

Although I have been in the United States for almost twenty years, I have always had one foot back home, and I have really struggled with living in one place and having my heart in another. Now that I am married with kids, the thought of moving home seems even more overwhelming. I have worked as a designer since I graduated from college, running my own business for a few years. Combining my two passions; design and Sweden, my home country, felt natural.

Living, working and raising a family away from home has had its challenges, and Love, STHLM has become a creative outlet for me. Creating and designing items with a Scandinavian look and feel helps ease the longing a little bit and it has also brought me much closer to the Swedish community here in the U.S.

My goal is to offer prints and home goods to other fellow Swedes in the world, who perhaps have the same longing for their home country, and passion for modern Scandinavian design as I do, and so far the response has been very positive.

3. What type of products can we find at Love, Sthlm and which items are the most popular?

I design prints, greeting cards, and home goods, most of them with some sort of connection to Sweden. What makes my products a bit unique, is that many of the prints and cards are printed on a letterpress; the old school way of printing. It’s a time consuming and intricate way to print but one that brings luxury and high quality to my products. I also hand-letter, illustrate and design everything myself.

The most popular products are by far my fika mugs, the Dala Horse Sweden map as well as the Dala Horse pillowcase. Many customers also appreciate my greeting cards, as they come with an English translation.

View this post on Instagram

Gothenburg lovers what are you up to today? We're at the printers picking up our latest Dala Horse Map. #gothenburg #dalahorse #map

A post shared by Love, STHLM™️, Inc (@love.sthlm) on Jun 9, 2017 at 8:17am PDT

4. Are your customers mostly Scandinavians or do you see an interest in your products among the Americans as well?

Most of my customers are Swedes living in the U.S., or Americans with Swedish ancestors, but I also have many Swedes living in Sweden visiting my online store.

5. What inspires you the most?

When it comes to design and calligraphy, I am inspired by other artists, most of whom I follow on social media. I am also inspired by my childhood, my memories and experiences in Sweden, old and recent, as well as the endless opportunities that I have with this business. The positive encouragement from customers is of course also a huge source of inspiration.

6. What are your plans, hopes, and dreams for the future?

For my business, my immediate plan is to launch a new collection for the spring. I am also working on launching my products in Sweden, along with a new website. A dream would be to expand my product lines and to exist in Scandinavian stores all over the world, and maybe even have my own storefront! Dream big, right?!

For my personal life, I still hope to one day bring my family back home to Stockholm, where I can continue to work as a designer and calligrapher with my own line and have my friends and family close to me.

Greta Thunberg: The Young Swedish Activist Who Is Taking The World By Storm

By

-

February 5, 2019

2

Greta Thunberg is not your average 16-year old. The daughter of Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg has caught the attention of the world for an entirely different reason than being the daughter of her famous parents. Rather it is her fierce determination to solve the pending environmental crisis.

Before the 2018 Swedish general election, Greta Thunberg was merely a teenager with a passion for the environment. That was before German newspaper Bild aptly nicknamed her “eco-Pippi” and she stepped out in the spotlight as an inspiration to climate activists, young and old, across the globe.

It all started when then-15-year-old Greta won a writing competition in local newspaper Svenska Dagbladet for an article she wrote on climate change. Around the same time, Greta had heard about students in Florida organizing school strikes after the Parkland shooting. This inspired her own protest against the politician’s failure to take the climate crisis seriously.

Students protest against gun violence outside of the White House after Parkland shooting. Photo credit: Tribune News Service

As the Swedish general election was approaching, Thunberg decided to organize a school strike outside the parliament building to put pressure on the politicians. Every day leading up to the election, she would sit outside the parliament with her recognizable homemade sign with the text “School strike for the climate”. Little did anyone expect that her message would reach far beyond Sweden’s borders.

Inspired by Thunberg, students all over the world are now joining her fight to raise awareness about climate change. And adults, too, are quickly realizing that Greta is a force to be reckoned with. Since the phenomenon of the young girl taking on climate change began gaining attention, she has taken part in countless interviews and has been invited to speak at several high profile international climate meetings. Her speech at the COP24 Climate Change Conference in Poland in December currently has over 650 000 views on Youtube.

A month later, she left a lasting impression at the World Economic Forum in Swiss Davos when she unabashedly confronted the audience, saying “Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.”

Staying true to her own values she opted for a 30+ hour train ride rather than a short flight to Switzerland, unlike many of her seniors at the forum.

Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Photo credit: AP Photo / Markus Schreiber

Greta Thunberg has proven that she is willing to step up and be a role model for climate activists everywhere by leading by example. She continues to strike outside the parliament every Friday and, she says, will continue to do so until the government takes action and encourages others to do the same; “Whoever you are, wherever you are, we need you now to stand outside your parliament or local government office to let them know that we demand climate action.” As for the future, Greta is considering taking a year off from her high school studies to pursue activism full time.

It is clear that Greta will not give up until politicians worldwide start listening to her and take action to solve the climate problem.

“They Like The Hot Stuff”: Swedes Listen To Erotic Audiobooks The Most

By

Elina Sundqvist

-

February 1, 2019

Audio books are becoming more and more popular, and in the last two years, the number of Swedes who listen to audiobooks has nearly doubled. What they like to listen to the most? Erotica and romance stories.

“It’s anonymous. You don’t need to sit with a paperback in your hands that shows what you’re reading. No one knows what you listen to,” says author Susanne Ahlenius to SVT.

In 2018, 37 percent of the Swedish population consumed books digitally, and mainly by listening to them. On streaming sites for books, such as Bookbeat, almost every category has increased since 2016. But the clear winner is romance and erotic novels. “Romance is easy to read, and there is a lot of happy endings and in general, a hopeful type of reading. As a way to pass time, it works really well. It’s a great way to escape reality,” said Anna Riklund, head of content curation at Bookbeat.

Erotic novels are most popular on Valentine’s Day and during the summer, according to the audiobook app Storytel. When it comes to romance and erotica, women are the largest audience — but the target audience is constantly growing and changing. “I think there’s something for everyone. However, what really works is when I totally let loose. When I write very explicit stuff with lots of sex, those are my most popular books. People like the hot stuff,” says Ahlenius, who specializes in erotic crime.

Featured image: IStock

This Film Festival Wants You To Experience The End Of The World From Inside Of A Coffin

By

-

January 28, 2019

Since it’s initial launch in 1979, Göteborg Film Festival has grown to become the largest film festival in Scandinavia. During a period of 10 days, from January to early February, hundreds of films from dozens of countries are seen by over a hundred thousand attendees. According to organizers, the purpose of the festival is to bring the world to Gothenburg, but also to act as a springboard for Nordic films to reach a wider audience.

This year, one particularly interesting feature has caught global attention.

The 2019 edition’s, perhaps most unique event, takes place during the screenings of Aniara, a sci-fi film inspired by Nobel Prize-winner Harry Martinson’s epic from 1956. The film is set in a bleak future, right on the cusp of the Earth’s destruction due to nuclear wars and environmental pollution. Human survivors are being transported from Earth to their new home on Mars when the space shuttle is forced off course by an asteroid. Eventually, the passengers are faced with the realization that they will be forever lost in space.

The festival worked with the directors of Aniara, Pelle Kågerman, and Hugo Lilja, to create a viewing experience unlike any other. In order to amplify the feeling of claustrophobia and anxiety expressed in the movie, a select few get to view the film from the inside of a custom-made sarcophagus. There are a total of eight sarcophagi, each of which is 210 cm long and 60 cm wide and equipped with screens and speakers. They also have air vents as well as panic buttons in order to prevent the experience from becoming too realistic.

Aniara is intended to provoke thoughts about the current state of the Earth, and what will happen to humanity if nothing is done soon. Jonas Holmberg, creative director at Göteborg Film Festival, says “The last song of Aniara is called Sarcophagus and is a metaphor for the spaceship, the passengers are on no longer on a spaceship but in a sarcophagus where they will die”, further elaborating, “You could say that the Earth is becoming this sarcophagus, unless we quickly do something about the climate situation.”

Visitors at Göteborg Film Festival will have the chance to attend one of 33 screenings of Aniara between January 27 – January 31.

These Are The Best Countries In The World To Be A Woman

By

Elina Sundqvist

-

January 16, 2019

A new study shows that it’s going to take about 108 years to close the Global Gender Gap in all 195 countries of the world.

Gender equality is happening slower than predicted and currently stands at 68%, and with the progress slowing down, it’s probably going to take eight years longer then what was estimated in 2017, according to the World Economic Forum’s annual report.

However, there are some countries that are moving at a faster pace than others. Looking at the top five best nations to be a woman in, four of those countries are Nordic.

Iceland ranks as the #1 country in the world, when it comes to gender equality, for the 10th (!) year in a row. This probably doesn’t come to a surprise to the world nor the Icelandic people with the Icelandic government applying measures like it being illegal for men to make more money than women. Iceland is the first country in the world to legislate a law like this. The other top four countries are all Nordic nations: Norway (2), Sweden (3) and Finland (4).

The report states that: “Although progress continues to proceed at a very slow pace… the fact that most countries are moving toward greater gender parity is encouraging and rewards the efforts of all policy-makers and practitioners across the world that work to achieve the UN’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal: Gender equality.”

It also includes sub-areas and how long it will take to close the Global Gender gap in those. Worst is the Economic Opportunity gender gap, which will take an estimated 202 years to close. One reason behind said estimation is that women are still finding it hard to be considered for senior/manager positions as frequently as men are. In countries where such data was even available, only 34% of all the manager and senior positions are held by women.

Best prognosis is in the education–specific gender gap area, which stands at just 5% on average and can be closed in just 14 years (based on current trends).

To read the full report, visit: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf

Featured image: Clive Rose/ Getty Images

New Kurt Wallander Series ‘Young Wallander’ Comes To Netflix In 2019

By

Elina Sundqvist

-

December 11, 2018

Netflix announced that creation of Young Wallander last week, a new original series based on Henning Mankell’s best-selling Kurt Wallander novels.

The series will be produced by Yellow Bird UK and will feature both British and Swedish cast — with production beginning during 2019. The series will be set in contemporary Sweden and consist of six serialized episodes.

Netflix explained the storyline in a recent press release:

“In a bold and original new story set in contemporary Sweden, Young Wallander sees Henning Mankell’s iconic detective Kurt Wallander investigate his gripping first case. The story focuses on the formative experiences – professional and personal – faced by Kurt as a recently graduated police officer in his early twenties.”

Henning Mankell’s best-selling novels about detective Kurt Wallander have been made into several films and TV series, not only in Sweden but in the UK as well. “The Wallander novels have sold 40 million copies and been translated into over 40 different languages, while still being true and authentic to the Swedish noir that Mankell helped create,” said Erik Barmack, Vice President, Head of International Originals at Netflix.

Berna Levin, Creative Director, Yellowbird UK filled in: “Getting to meet Wallander as a young man and explore how the times and his new experiences will shape him to eventually become the man we already know and love is a thrilling opportunity. We are confident he will captivate new audiences and delight longstanding fans once again with his sharp intelligence, youthful enthusiasm, and unmistakable humanity.”

IKEA Goes Healthy: Adds Salmon Balls To Their Menu

By