Joakim Thedin

From the music industry to acclaimed designer in just a few years. Joakim Thedin fell in love with designing a combination of light and form. He now owns a design company and his work includes the bestselling Heaven for Markslöjd.

It all began in 2009. Joakim and his wife were taking their records down to the basement, because the family had transitioned entirely to Spotify. While putting away one of the records, he was struck by how beautiful the grooves were. Then and there, he had the idea to design a lamp made from recycled vinyl records. When the lamp was finished, it garnered some attention and was featured in an array of design magazines, sold at several places, and nominated for Object of the Year at Designtorget in 2010.

Joakim explains that his ideas and inspiration come from art, color, form and different production methods. Recently, he has developed an interest in the works of landscape artist Michael Heizer, and Hilma af Klint. Joakim is one of those designers who never sits down before a blank sheet of paper; rather, his ideas arrive in a steady stream. Usually, they pop up while he pages through all the design magazines he reads each month. He explains that the lamps appear in his mind entirely finished, and then he quickly scribbles down a simple picture for memory. Then he creates a digital original on the computer, and after that he places the lamp in a number of different settings to see what kind of environment it will fit into best. Then he often makes a prototype and presents it with the picture of the room to the companies with which he works. If a company chooses a lamp, he makes a production blueprint, which is then sent to the company’s producer.