Dear friends and customers throughout the years: Herringbone is moving and transferring the business to Sweden. You will in the future be able to find us and contact us at Herringbone.se – of course we would love to keep serving you in the future. Thanks to Skype, Facetime, and digital communication – you would not notice the difference.

See you in the next chapter from/on the other side.

All the best for the future,

Johanna C. Nilsson

The Swedish artist, Catrine Näsmark, is famous for her personal and story telling portraits, reflecting her personality combining playful humour and thoughtful depth. The break-through in her carrer was when the Queen Silvia of Sweden bought Catrine’s portrait of the King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, now decorating the wall of the Jubilee Room, in the Royal Palace  in Stockholm next to a portrait of the Queen herself.

Catrine has a new project that is about to take off ground. Cool factor: HIGH. Art factor: WORLD CLASS. Fun factor: CATRINE NÄSMARK. Scan this painted QR code above – art that works!

Or take the short cut… and click here.

Catrine visited San Francisco in February a year ago, at the same time as President Obama. See her portrait of him, and a number of other individuals that you may or may not recognize, in our introduction post “Meet the Artist”  from the time. If you want to commission a portrait by Catrine Näsmark – inquire about it here http://bit.ly/contactNasmark. 

If you are in Stockholm at the end of May – June this year – don’t miss her installation at Bromma Airport. In either case, I am sure you would find it interesting to follow this artist.

Enjoy,

Johanna

It’s hard to beat the remarkable opening day at Innovative Sweden, but this may have been my favorite day so far. Today’s topic was Cleantech and how to build sustainable cities for the future. Sponsor was ABB.

I learned so many new cool things today.
Did you know that:

- The City Hall building of San Jose, CA is LEED Platinum certified? Scott Green and Chris Burton from the City of San Jose shared “San Jose’s green vision.” They also said that 1/3 of all VC funds in the US are invested in the San Jose area.

- Swedes are the heaviest users of energy per capita in the EU –but also of bio energy? Tomas Kaberger from Chalmers University said so. Tomas also said Sweden is a leading country within Smart Grid.

- If everybody lived the Western lifestyle we would need three globes? – Tomas Dahlman, from Electrolux revealed this alarming fact.

- Outside Stockholm there is a new, upcoming vibrant district for sustainable living, business and recreation called Stockholm Royal Seaport? A former brownfield industrial area is being transformed into one of Europe’s largest urban development projects using modern architecture and environmentally adapted energy-efficient solutions.

- Electrolux organizes an annual global design competition for industrial design students – Electrolux Design Lab? The student who presents the most innovative idea for household appliances reflecting Scandinavian design values (being sensitive to the environment, providing intuitive ease of use and aesthetic appeal) wins 5,000 EURO and a 6-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design center. I can’t wait for the future to be here if that means I can have a Bio Robot Refrigerator – watch it in this video featuring the finalists in 2010.

Enjoy the weekend. I will have a new blog post from Innovative Sweden for you on Monday.

-Anna

Follow my tweets @herringbonefm. #InnovativeSweden
Check out photos on Herringbone’s Facebook page.
Innovative Sweden is livestreamed here.

The week-long event is sponsored by the Swedish Institute, which is a public agency that promotes Sweden around the world. And that is exactly the purpose of Innovative Sweden, which is a worldwide tour to generate interest in Sweden. The first stop is Stanford University before it travels on to Toronto, Washington DC, Rio de Janeiro and other parts of the world.

 Traveling around the world and increasing awareness around Sweden will help the Swedish Institute to reach its goal: the creation of “mutual relationships with other countries around the world, whether the issue is culture, politics, trade, or development cooperation.”

Its website also reveals that the Swedish Institute:

• Puts Sweden on the map by using strategic communication,

• Creates intercultural relations through meetings, exchanges and the building of networks,

• Focuses on culture, society, education and science,

• Has some 90 members of staff in Stockholm and Paris,

• Receives annual government funding of approx. SEK 300 million.

Innovative Sweden emphasizes all the great inventions that have come from Sweden (the safety belt, the zipper, tetra pak, the pace maker… the list is long) and the fact that we Swedes still are world leaders of innovation in a variety of fields.

Innovative Sweden offers an event focused on the fields of Information and Communication Technology, Clean Technology, Gaming and Life Science and is filled with exciting speakers such as Rikard Steiber, Global Marketing Director – Mobile & Social Advertising, Google and Barbro Osher, General Consul of Sweden in San Francisco.

Twenty Swedish companies and startups, such as Solvatten and OrganoClick, are showcased in the exhibition and many of them will pitch for VCs tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

- Anna

Don’t forget to follow my tweets @herringbonefm. #InnovativeSweden

Watch an introduction video from Innovative Sweden.

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