Pamela Lindgren Design

Smart textile bracelet with alarm- music choice and sound controller function. Table for interaction and communication, design Pamela Lindgren Designer MFA and Kristina Sahlqvist Architect SIR/MSA. Kinnarp chair designed by Sture Eng and Kjell Nord Re:Design by Pamela Lindgren Designer MFA, SVID and Kristina Sahlqvist Architect SIR/MSA. Photo: Studio SEEK


Smart textile hood and bracelet with mp3 player. Design Pamela Lindgren and Kristina Sahlqvist.

Furniture for wellbeing

We have been working together with HDK School of Design and Crafts and brain researchers from Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The unique interdisciplinary body of research and its conclusions reveals the hefty impact that the hospital environment has on the speed of recovery and improved sense of wellbeing. 

The project was initiated by the hospital's Department of Rehabilitation who stipulated that enriched environment presented in different contexts has a significant impact on the patients rehabilitation. We have therefore worked in a concept of re-design and new experimental ideas. At present, the collaborative study has resulted in two chairs which have been re-designed to create rocking chairs which incorporate heating pads and storage for canes and walking aids. A third chair features two wheels to aid short-distance movement. There is also a soft-edged table for interaction, a brace of smart textiles which include controls for the alarm, music volume, mp3 players. Furniture and product design: Pamela Lindgren Designer MFA / SVID and Kristina Sahlqvist Architect SIR / MSA  Design for Us. Smart Textiles in collaboration with Lena Berglin and Siw Eriksson, Swedish Quintex AB. Photography in collaboration with Studio SEEK. Doctors and specialists in collaboration with Michael Nilsson, Director of Research at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

Ågrenska Academy in Gothenburg

Workshop with teenagers and families. We discussed and tried out how the furniture, cutlery, plates, glasses, napkins, are designed and how the tools work as we prepare and eat food. Throughout the workshop, we as designers and architects worked closely with the teenagers and their families. They have provided us with feedback and ideas, and together with occupational therapists and rehabilitation staff, they were our reference group in this project which we could test our ideas and prototypes against. Part of the project was shown at FolkeBernadotte stiftelse konferens/Foundation conference on participation in Stockholm 2008.

Gothenburg Science Festival "Health more than medicine"  Museum of Gothenburg / Göteborgs stadsmuseum. Participator; Gunnar Bjursell, Professor of Molecular Biology, Göteborgs universitet. Kristina Sahlqvist, Professor HDK. Pamela Lindgren, designer MFA/SVID. Michael Nilsson, Professor Neuroscience and Physiology, center for brain repair and rehabilitation, Sahlgrenska academy.The project was also represented at Center for Culture and Health "Better Environments for Rehabilitation"

What does the environment at a hospital mean for our chances of rehabilitation? New research shows that carefully chosen architecture, design and sensory stimulation increases patients' chances of recovery, both physically and mentally.



Pamela Lindgren industrial designer MFA and Kristina Sahlqvist, interior designer and researcher at HDK, University of Gothenburg, has carried out a cross-disciplinary research project where they investigated how health care providers can create better environments for rehabilitation, using knowledge of the brain's potential for recovery. The research work is a collaboration between HDK, the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts and Sahlgrenska University Hospital/the Sahlgrenska Academy through Michael Nilsson and and Lena Berglin, Siw Eriksson researcher at the Swedish School of Textiles.

With digital textiles and rooms that affect all senses, rehabilitation can be more effective, with the patient's time in hospital being reduced. In the project an entire heath care ward's competence has been used: neurologists, physiatrists, nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists have participated. This has resulted in a conceptual solution for how an optimal rehabilitation ward should be designed.



Website: www.hdk.gu.se/sv/forskning/forsknings-utvecklingsprojekt/battre-miljoer-rehabilitering
Image: Artistic developmental work in Design and Neuro science. Photo Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer.