A Trip to Malmo

Two weeks ago I decided to go to Malmo, Sweden for the day. Malmo is only a 30 minute train ride away from Copenagen across the Øresund and you get there via an 8km long bridge that was only built in the last 10 years. The train ticket was really cheap, only NZ$20, which is less than it costs to go to the outskirts of Copenhagen! What is even better is that there are trains leaving every 10-20 minutes from Copenhagen Central Station.

As we entered Sweden, I couldn't help but notice their really amazing train stations. I think they have only been built quite recently because they looked really new. In one station there were LED strip lights in between the wall panels that changed colour and chased each other.

In contrast, Malmo Central Station had all these projections down either side of the train station showing what I am guessing to be images of Sweden.

Things like grassy fields, picturesque lakes and charming seaside cottages were in abundance. It was almost enough to fool you into thinking there is no such thing as winter there.

Malmo itself was really quite nice, when I wasn't standing in the viciously cold wind that made my face numb in mere minutes. Unlike Copenhagen it seemed much more modern and the contrast between old and new was more prominent. That said you could easily find examples of the traditional building style down some of the small side alleys.

It was down such an alley that I stumbled on quite a nice find. It was called the Design+Form Centre and they had some absolutely incredible furniture design, including a coffee table that was jointed in such a way that you could make the table top look like a three dimensional flower head if you folded the panels in the right configuration. Another design featured a number of sheets of what looked like plywood/laminate clamped together to make a dining table but at one end the sheets were left to curl up naturally like old sheets of paper. There were also all these interesting prototype designs like an electric racing motorbike, a bike helmet that had a built in airbag to protect your face if you went over the handlebars, and eyewear that was made of an interesting plastic or acetate that was incredibly thin and delicate looking. The Centre itself was part of a complex of buildings that appeared to have been stables once upon a time.

One of the strangest sights I saw in the city centre was a water fountain that was frozen over, yet still working. Upon closer examination, I realised that there was actually a statue underneath....

I found that Malmo had slightly better shopping than Copenhagen but a ridiculous abundance of shoe stores. In one street alone there were three side-by-side, not including the other half dozen or so within a 5 minute walk in either direction.

One big find of the day was a book store that was dedicated to selling only Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, as well as Japanese Manga. I was in 7th Heaven there and 90% of the books were in English! It shouldn't come as a surprise to know that I bought a book, and I would have bought more but I had more city to see. I may yet return...

Canal front buildings

Another cool find was a CD shop that was two storeys high and had the biggest selection ever. Half the bands I had never heard of. They also had a surprising number of vinyls for sale as well, and they were all well-known bands like The Who and Iggy Pop.

My other big find of the day was when I was walking back to the train station, I found a shop selling British foods. It was here that I finally found Marmite and Vegemite. It seems that while Denmark has banned the sale of these products, Sweden has not. On the downside, it cost me NZ$10 for a 150g jar of Vegemite but believe me when I tell you that it was worth every penny. Every single, well-earned and precious penny.

Also on the way back to the train station I happened upon a rather charming procession of sculptures that are called the Optimistic Orchestra. The procession appears to pay homage to Malmo's industrial and boat-building heritage with its strong lines and blocky design elements.

I shall conclude this post of my visit to Malmo with an image of the underground portion of Malmo Central Station. It represents form, function and minimalism, the three main things for which Swedish design is most famous, and I personally rather loved it :-)