They are all based in Stockholm, aged in their 30s, established in their field and they are all women. For Christina Sollenberg Britton, editor in chief of international fashion, design and lifestyle magazine Stockholm New, they are representative of a welcome change and something worth sharing.
As part of Swedish Style in Tokyo, her magazine presented a group exhibit by the four women -- Maria Forster, Anki Gneib, Sanna Hansson and Anna von Schewen -- at the Matsuya department store in Tokyo's Ginza district from Oct. 10 to 15.
The exhibition title, "That's Some Fine Swedish Feminine Form," was at once ironic and celebratory. Women designers, Sollenberg Britton noted recently in the magazine Stockholm New, make up the majority at design schools (she is also a teacher at Beckman's school of design in Stockholm) but are still a minority in the professional design world. Only in recent years, however, have changes in the business world and social mind-set -- e.g., more women-driven startups, more flexible family roles -- set the stage for the emergence of more women in the field.