There aren’t that many moments when a piece of news arrives in your inbox that makes the whole office genuinely excited but that rare event occurred a few minutes ago when H&M announced they are due to open a Scandi market called ARKET in autumn 2017.
Coming straight from H&M headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, the new brand, promises to be a modern-day market, offering essential products for men, women, children and, most importantly, the home.
Arket means ‘sheet of paper’ in Swedish. ‘It both relates to our origin in the Nordic tradition of functional, long-lasting design and symbolises the blank sheet, the sense of optimism and possibility we felt creating this new brand,’ says Ulrika Bernhardtz, Creative Director.
The brand's Instagram account is very beguiling...
‘A fantastic team with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise have come together to build Arket. We’re very excited to soon reveal the brand and share our collections with customers,’ says Lars Axelsson, Managing Director.
The first store will open early autumn 2017 on Regent Street in London followed by Brussels, Copenhagen and Munich. You will also be able to shop online if you’re in one of the 18 European countries being blessed with their own website.
Perhaps most exciting of all, the store will also have a café on site offering food styled on the New Nordic Kitchen, which champions classic Scandinavian cooking techniques such as pickling and smoking. We’ve heard nothing, yet, of any meatballs so IKEA can just relax on that front.
Details are non-existent of what sort of products they will carry but a press release sent this afternoon promises that the range will include Arket’s own products alongside a selection of the best examples from other brands offering customers ‘high quality and long-lasting products at an affordable price’.
'The brand DNA is timeless, crisp, quality and warmth,' Bernhardtz said.
'Timeless is style beyond trend. And crisp is the counterpart to that: to be always relevant, modern and fresh. Quality is not only the feel of garments; it's also how they are produced. Warmth is about being genuine and personal.' So we’re thinking sexy yet classic Scandi design at high street prices. Sign us up!
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