Nordic Nest invited five leading design brands to unveil their 2026 collections at Galleri Existens in Stockholm, as part of its Icons of Today and Tomorrow exhibition. Here are our favourite picks
Photography courtesy of Louis Poulsen featuring Panthella in orange
Words by Jessica-Christin Hametner
Nestled along the leafy stretch of Karlavägen in Stockholm’s picturesque Östermalm, Galleri Existens – a brick-clad gallery quietly making its mark in the local art scene – recently played host to Nordic Nest’s Icons of Today and Tomorrow exhibition, introducing this year’s Scandinavian design pieces poised to shape the year ahead to a steady stream of visitors.
Nordic Nest, the Swedish design company operating entirely online since 2002 and bringing more than 250 Scandinavian brands to the world, invited five brands – Montana, Louis Poulsen, &Tradition, Ferm Living and Flos – to present their latest collections, featuring both new launches and beloved design classics, as many of the brands mark the centenary of the Danish architect and designer Verner Panton.
Photography courtesy of Nordic Nest
‘At Nordic Nest, our mission is to help people create loving homes,’ says Bank Bergström, CEO of Nordic Nest. ‘As one of the world’s largest online retailers, we believe that we have a responsibility to continue showcasing products in physical environments as well, because it’s really in the physical meeting where the product and the human create something special.’
Here, ICON selects five picks from Icons of Today and Tomorrow, from timeless classics to contemporary standouts. While the exhibition has drawn to a close, many of the pieces remain available directly through Nordic Nest, extending the life of the show beyond the gallery walls and offering visitors a chance to acquire these pieces firsthand.
Photography courtesy of &Tradition featuring Verner Panton’s Flowerpot VP9 lamp in Zesty Orange
1. Flowerpot by &Tradition
Danish furniture visionary Verner Panton believed that colours carry both meaning and function. To mark the designer’s 100th birthday, &Tradition has partnered with Verner Panton Design AG to introduce three vibrant new shades to the brand’s beloved Flowerpot lamp range.
Now also available in Blue, Ivory and – a 70s favourite – Zesty Orange, the refreshed palette draws on some of the first colours Panton used for the lamp. An archive photo from the 1970s, which served as the inspiration, shows a Blue, White and Orange pendant formation, capturing the optimism and creativity of the era in which the lamp was first debuted.
‘The flowerpot laid the groundwork for &Tradition in 2010,’ says Lucy Price, Head of PR and Communications at &Tradition. ‘Zesty Orange is really a classic Panton colour, one he used a lot across his designs.’
Photography courtesy of Ferm Living featuring the new Kiru Series
2. Kiru Series by Ferm Living
As part of its Imperfectly Perfect collection at Nordic Nest’s Icons of Today and Tomorrow exhibition, Ferm Living offered a first look at the season’s new designs within a space thoughtfully curated for modern living.
‘Our philosophy is to design products for every part of the home’, says Phillipp Materna, Head of Brand & Design at Ferm Living. ‘The theme that we started off with this season was this idea of something called imperfectly perfect, so products that are designed down to the millimetre, yet still expressive of craft and materiality.’
Rooted in Scandinavian principles of slow living, Ferm Living’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection marries material honesty, considered craftsmanship and gentle, softened forms. A highlight is the new Kiru Series, created using the traditional Japanese Kurinuki technique.
Photography courtesy of Ferm Living featuring the Kiru Tall Glasses
‘The idea was whether or not we could create something that was basically made intentionally wrong, so to tap into this idea of wabi-sabi,’ says Materna. ‘In this collection, we use different clays and materials that feel slightly off, rough or organic.’
Crafted from mouth-blown, 100% GRS-certified recycled glass, each piece begins as a hand-carved clay form that is translated into a mould, allowing ceramic texture to be pressed into the glass. The result is a collection of refined yet expressive glassware, fusing craftsmanship with everyday functionality.
‘We try to make things that are as simple, refined and clean as possible,’ Materna continues. ‘This season, our work is also a reaction to the world around us – geopolitical strife, AI or social media – things we’re trying to see and react against through our products.’
Photography courtesy of Louis Poulsen featuring Panthella in green
3. Panthella by Louis Poulsen
As part of the centenary celebrations for Verner Panton, Louis Poulsen is bringing back its iconic Panthella lamp in the original five colours, complete with opal shades and a chrome stand, just as it was first envisioned by the designer in 1971.
Radical for its time, the Panethella’s bold palette, playful form and chrome trumpet base, paired with synthetic materials, challenged the conventions of Danish design. Whimsical, non-conformist and unapologetically modern, it embodies the spirit that runs throughout Panton’s oeuvre.
‘The Panthella captures a lot of the happiness of the 1960s and early 70s, both in colour and in the beautiful trumpet form, with an organic, almost lively silhouette’, says Monique Faber, Chief Design Officer at Louis Poulsen. ‘What makes this lamp truly special is its translucency,’ she continues. ‘So, its character changes entirely when it is lit or turned off.’
The lamp is part of Louis Poulsen’s Originals Collection, which will be released in two stages. The first, arriving in February, features the Panthella 160 and 250 Portable Lamps. The second, due in autumn 2026, introduces the Panthella Floor Lamp. All models are offered in shades ranging from Original Opal Brown to Blue Grey, Green and Red, each finished with a high-lustre chrome base.
Photography courtesy of Montana
4. Pantonova by Montana
In 1971, at the height of space-age glamour, Verner Panton unveiled the sinuous Pantonova System for the legendary Danish restaurant Varna. This modular wireframe design, composed of three sculptural elements – Linear, Concave and Convex – distilled the decade’s experimental spirit.
‘Varna was incredibly colourful‘, explains Mette Lind Jørgensen, Global PR Manager at Montana. ‘Pantonova has achieved icon status, even if that’s not a term we use lightly. Designed in the 70s, it feels more relevant than ever and is arguably even more popular today than when it first launched.’
Crafted from 5mm steel wire, Pantonova is now produced by family-owned, Danish company Montana in chrome or powder-coated Black Red, alongside an outdoor edition in electronically polished stainless steel.
Fitted with discreet plastic feet and engineered to assemble using connectors and clips, the system carries EU Ecolabel certification. Cushions are available in leather, velvet or textiles, including Harald and Hallingdal 65 by Kvadrat or ULTRA by Sørensen Leather, in eight eye-catching hues.
Photography by Consiglio Manni featuring Flos Gatto (Piccolo) at Casa Maiora in Carovigno, Puglia, Italy
5. Gatto by Flos
Originally conceived in 1960 by brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, and produced by Italian lighting house Flos, the Gatto table lamp remains an innovative piece of design. It marked one of the earliest uses of “cocoon”, a sprayed resin technique stretched over a steel frame to form a diffuser and later sealed with a transparent finish.
The result is a soft, glowing lamp with a beautiful shape. Its sculptural silhouette appears almost weightless, while the cocooned surface tempers the bulb within, creating a warm, glowing light that flatters rather than floods a room. An electronic dimmer set discreetly along the cable allows for subtle calibration.
Understated yet expressive, the Gatto sits comfortably in pared-back, contemporary interiors seeking ambient lighting. More than six decades on, it still delivers what the Castiglionis did best: rigour and wit all at the flick of a switch.
‘The Castiglioni brothers reshaped Flos in the 1960s and together they defined much of what Flos is today,’ comments Michela Bado, PR at Flos. ‘What makes a product an icon [like this]? It’s the ability to remain contemporary across decades. An icon can keep its identity even as the world around it changes. These are objects that, 50 years on, still have its own identity.’
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