Street Style: Kungsholmen

Elna Nykänen Andersson
Posted April 1, 2012 in More

Formerly home to a bewildering array of factories and craftsmen, Kungsholmen has changed over the years; nowadays you’re more likely to find a trendy café or a web design studio rather than the craftsmen of old. But they haven’t disappeared completely – some industrious souls still keep the old traditions alive, and we met four entrepreneurs who still make their products on the island.

Early weekday morning on Kungsholmen, 1897. The air is thick with smoke rising from factory chimneys. Workers rush to their stations, some to Bolinders Mekaniska Verkstad, a huge factory manufacturing everything from steam engines to meat grinders, Others hurry to small, independent workshops dedicated to making ropes or tanning leather. Following a conscious effort from the city’s politicians, the Kungsholmen of a hundred years ago was an island of factories and craftsmen as the city fathers sought to concentrate these activities on this formerly peaceful, idyllic island.

When industrial manufacturing and craftsmanship were booming here, products made on Kungsholmen included almost everything a person could need. Bolinders produced kitchenware, engines and even locomotives, while Stråhattfabriken churned out elegant straw hats. Hornsberg had a cotton factory, Marieberg a china factory, and a local distillery near Norr Mälarstrand provided the city’s hard-working men and women with aquavit.

Stora Bryggeriet on Kungsholmen’s western shore brewed beer, and Choklad AB Thule created iconic Swedish candy bars like Plopp and Tulo – indeed, the neon sign erected to market the latter still sits on the factory building’s wall (with the sign itself produced at yet another Kungsholmen factory – Grahams Neon).

In small studios, skilled professionals worked on materials such as glass, pewter and iron over open fires. On Hantverkargatan, Helge Palmcrantz manufactured rifles and machine guns, and a few buildings down the street, Kungliga Myntet minted the coins Stockholmers used to buy the fine products made on Kungsholmen.

These days, one is hard pressed to find manufacturing on Kungsholmen. The big factories have moved to the outskirts of the city – making the air easier to breath and the population more middle-class. The old-school craftsmen have either died out or moved, and real estate developers have found other uses to the island’s old factory buildings: many have been turned into flats or offices, one of the latest projects being the luxury flat development of the old straw hat factory on Scheelegatan.

But Kungsholmen isn’t entirely devoid of production. Behind some of the island’s colorful facades, small workshops and factories still hide, and every day new products made on Kungsholmen reach Stockholmers, decreasing our dependenence on mass production and making us more and more addicted to great quality.

Kungsholmens Glassfabrik
Ten years ago, economist Tommy Westman was getting tired of his job. He longed for a freer, more independent working life. So when the opportunity to buy the premises of an old Italian ice cream factory and bar called Pipersglace came up, he didn’t hesitate.

Westman gave the place the simple and charming name Kungsholmens Glassfabrik, and started producing on a small scale. Every day, 100 to 200 litres of ice cream are made in the factory by Westman, his father, Leif, and son, Walter.

Westman’s machine only makes five litres of ice cream at a time, allowing him to keep the product fresh and giving him the freedom to try out new combinations and flavours.

“I get new ideas all the time – when traveling, reading magazines or just talking to people. Just recently, I made a banana sorbet with rum and cinnamon,” he says. “But our most popular products are the mint-lime sorbet and the licorice ice cream.”

Kungsholmens Glassfabrik’s ice cream is of the Italian type, containing less cream than the American version. Westman likes to keep his ice creams simple, using only sugar, egg yolks, milk and cream, and adding seasonings like herbs, berries or candy.

“All the ice cream is made in small quantities and with natural products. For instance, I grind the cardamom in a mortar by hand, and use fresh mint and genuine vanilla seeds,” he explains.

Soon, when the days get warmer, the ice cream bar’s busiest time of the year begins. Glassfabriken is a favorite among locals, but ice cream lovers all over town now know about its existence.

Westman himself didn’t know much about Kungsholmen before opening his business here, but is now considering moving his home here, too.

“It’s cosy and peaceful. And in the summer, when people start sitting on the terraces, it starts to really feel alive.”

Pipersgatan 14, www.kungsholmensglassfabrik.se

 

Hantverkarnas Hus θ
In the 17th centruy, the classic Kungsholmen street of Garvargatan was known as the street where the leather tanners used to work. The tanners may be long gone, but the spirit of their work lives on in the street – in particular, in a building housing several other craftspeople.

Founded in 1956, Hantverkarnas Hus has been operating from Kungsholmen for the past 20 years. The company manufactures and renovates furniture in its own joinery, upholsters antique and new furniture and provides advanced painting services, such as decorative marble painting.

In the past, all trade at Hantverkarnas Hus was business to business, but recently, they have cut out the middlemen and started to offer their services directly to private customers.

“We manufacture chairs, couches, easy chairs, anything people want, basically,” says Jimmy Larsson, who runs the company.

The son of an upholsterer, Larsson has been in the industry ever since he was a little boy; today, Hantverkarnas Hus is one of the few companies in Sweden making padded furniture by hand out of natural materials, and demand is high.

“People are currently very interested in older, classic furniture. They’re getting tired of the square boxes. We see lots of people wanting to renovate old furniture. We design and make new pieces, but we also buy furniture from auctions, renovate it and sell it in prime condition,” he says.

Working on Kungsholmen suits the company well, and Larsson finds the island a very pleasant place to do business.

“Once upon a time, this area was filled with craftsmen and factories. Now, we’re almost alone at it. We should cherish the few producers we have left.”

Garvargatan 20, www.hantverkarnashus.se

Taylors & Jones τ
When a small sausage factory first appeared on Hantverkargatan in 2007, not many people took notice. Gourmet sausage wasn’t big back then, and Swedes were generally a bit suspicious about fresh sausage, preferring their good old falukorv instead. But it didn’t take long before David Taylor, Gareth Jones and Kerim Akkoc, the three musketeers behind Stockholm’s premier sausage factory, had made sausages fashionable in the capital’s culinary circles.

“When people started tasting our products, they understood that a sausage can be a noble ingredient in itself,” says Kerim Akkoc.

Jones and Akkoc both have a past in the restaurant industry; before founding Taylors & Jones they worked at the Texas Longhorn restaurant. Taylor was an independent sausage maker who made his products in Gothenburg and sold them to restaurants in different parts of Sweden. That was how he made contact with Jones and Akkoc, and together, the three decided to set up a small butchery and sausage factory focussing on quality meats, sausages, cheeses and other specialities from the British Isles.

Today, their range covers 75 different sausages. The main production was recently moved from Kungsholmen to Västberga, but behind the counter, the men still have production facilities for making small batches of sausages. Around 400 kilograms of sausage are produced in the shop weekly.

“On the premises here, we mainly produce special orders or try out new products. We grew out of this space when the larger orders started coming in. Our dream was to find a shop and a production facility all in one in the city, but it wasn’t possible,” Akkoc says.

Taylors & Jones sausages really differ from the usual selection at the local supermarket. Here, you’ll find sausages you’ve probably never heard of. Lamb can be paired with chevre, honey and oregano; pork with rhubarb and ginger. For the upcoming barbecue season, Akkoc recommends the Welsh Dragon, a pork sausage with chili and leak. In general, Taylors & Jones sausages contain 85 per cent meat.

“These days, people are starting to look back at the times of their grandparents, when people still went to their local butchers. Meat counters disappeared in Sweden in the 1970s, when the housewives went to work and everything had to be quick and efficient. But now, they’re starting to make a comeback,” says Akkoc.

As for operating on Kungsholmen, the trio couldn’t be happier.

“Kungsholmen has a great mix of people. It’s like a combination of Östermalm and Södermalm. A bit posh, but with its feet firmly on the ground.”

Hantverkargatan 12, www.taylors.se

Petite France π
Every morning around 4 am, the lights go up in a small bakery on John Ericssonsgatan. The two chefs on duty start mixing the day’s doughs, preparing sour dough breads, pains au chocolat and chouquettes. For the past four years, Petite France – a small piece of France on Kungsholmen – has been providing Stockholmers with baguettes, croissants and macarons worthy of any Parisian.

A year ago, the bakery’s original founder Sebastien Boudet sold the business to Peter Hartai and Stefan Johnson-Petersén, who have been running the bakery at department store NK for 20 years. But not much has changed in the bakery itself.

“That was the idea. We didn’t want to go changing a winning concept,” says Hartai.

Many people were worried when Sebastien Boudet decided to sell the company, fearing the quality of the products would start to sink. Happily, that has not happened. The bread is still as crispy on the outside and as tasty and soft on the inside; the pain au chocolate still as leafy in the morning. Boudet is still involved in the business; he holds bread-baking courses on the premises, and consults on the products. “It was clearly a challenge to take over after Sebastien, but it has worked out well,” says Hartai.

The Petite France bakers bake around a 1000 loaves of bread per week. The café is famous for its bread, but also serves lunch and French wines. All types of breads sell well – there are several sorts from an apricot and figure-filled fruit bread to a light bread made with durum wheat – but naturally, a classic is always a classic. “The most popular is probably the baguette,” Hartai says.

John Ericssonsgatan 6, www.petitefrance.se

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