Try New Things

A case study for Skellefteå Society Expo

Yarn Jam

From vague idea to interconnected vision

Client
Skellefteå municipality · Society Expo
We did
Community dev, workshop, prototype, spatial design, future vision
Became
Sustainability strategy
01 Brief → Direction

Multiplayer brief writing

Skellefteå is undergoing a massive societal transformation – new industries, new residents, new housing, and new ways to get around.

Trying to do it all rapidly AND sustainably. That’s the challenge.

The Society Expo team needed everyone to see the big picture.

Through curated Q&A’s and a home-cooked lunch, we arrived at the brief:

Show how scattered initiatives form a whole.

The Q&A and the lunch
— photos to come —
02 Building → Testing

Prototypes

Through creative play, we got inspired by nature.

Nature is the ultimate sustainability. Because, in nature, everything is connected.

So we built a floor. And invited more than 80 leaders from public, private, and education.

They helped us map every interconnection happening in Skellefteå’s transformation.

With yarn. Of course.

An empty chipboard floor seen from above
Day one: chipboard
The same floor painted white
Painted white
The river laid out in blue tape across the floor
The river goes down
The floor covered in orange blocks and yarn
The first threads
A hand holding an orange block with the word Jörn
An orange block marked Airport, tied with yarn
A participant writing on an orange block
Blocks being screwed into the floor
Blocks for Sara, Skellefteå Kraft and Zero Sun, connected by yarn
A participant stapling yarn up toward the ceiling
Two participants among the threads
A participant tying yarn while others look on
03 Done

Definition

After 2 weeks of stapling yarn to the map, a clear picture emerged.

What’s happening. Who’s working with who.

And, most importantly, where we’re heading.

Two weeks, seen from the ceiling
The interactive river
Children reaching toward the river projection

Have a vague idea? Let’s go.

Peder Fjällström · [email protected]