Scandinavia: "Design for Life". Simplicity as the Key to Success — the fifth lecture in the series "History of Design: How Things Changed the World."

How did the cold North become a symbol of coziness? Why is Scandinavian design at once strict and warm, democratic and sophisticated?

Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Bruno Mathsson, Greta Magnusson-Grossman — their furniture and objects became part of a new lifestyle where aesthetics are inseparable from care for people.

In the lecture, we will discuss:

– how the idea of "design for all" shaped the Scandinavian model of well-being,
– why wood, light, and simplicity became the language of northern identity,
– and how Scandinavian modernism evolved from a utilitarian project into a global symbol of harmony and comfort.