Designing the Award

To us, Scandinavian Soul is more than the exciting discovery of this wonderful music, but also an opportunity of introducing an international audience to soulful Nordic culture and lifestyle.

It was therefore important for us that a Scandinavian designer should create the award for our annual event. Having already met Ceramic designer Frida Anthin Broberg at ‘Soul to Remember’ (an event Frida and her husband Sebastian organise) we were delighted when she agreed to design the awards for our first-ever celebration of Scandinavian Soul artists and the music.

Frida designed, hand-crafted and donated the awards, and we never saw the finished items until Frida arrived on the day of the event, and the awards looked even better than in her preceding photos.

The award’s design itself was very well received, actually feeling heavier than you might think, and after the event, we were interested in what Frida thought of Scandinavian Soul music?

I’ve always loved soul music! I grew up with LPs from artists like Stevie Wonder – the Scandinavian Soul genre is something I recently discovered and been listening to, says Frida.

These previous two summers my husband and I have arranged ”Soul to Remember”, a soul festival in Rönneshytta where we live, in the south of Sweden. I then got a good overview of the genre as we were looking for artists to perform. Scandinavian Soul surprises me each time with its quality – like Marie Dahlstrom! One of my favourites. There are so many talented artists in this genre.

Tell us about the process of making the Awards!

Apart from my interest in soul music I work as a ceramist and designer. When Andy asked if I’d like to create the awards for Scandinavian Soul Awards it just felt right!   The two S’s in the Scandinavian Soul logo was the first obvious assets chosen and they got shaped in black clay that I burnt at 1100 degrees. This gives the clay a look and feel of iron which I love! The S’s are attached to a piece of lacquered wood.

What are you inspired by?

I’m inspired by anything really – images, nature, people, meetings and music. Whilst always being in the midst of the creative processes the creativity flows naturally and is easily adapted to anything I’m doing. I’m in this creative flow all the time, working and developing. The only time I take a break is while being a guest at events like the fantastic Scandinavian Soul Awards of course 🙂