Interview with the founders behind Bark Sweden

Bark Sweden won the Design Talents award Best in Show in January 2023 with their phone cases made of wood.

Bark Sweden is a newly established company that manufactures and sells phone cases made from 100% recycled Swedish hardwood. The company was founded by Frida and Richard Lillieståle, who are also married and have two children. The couple wants to continue to challenge the consumer market by replacing plastic with wood in our everyday life.

Tell us about Bark Sweden!
What started as a wild idea in Frida’s head four years ago became a reality with Richard’s engineering and persistent experimentation. Frida has always been passionate about environmental issues and wanted to devote herself to something that could make the world a little better, but didn’t know how. But then she realized that many people use mobile phone cases. When she googled, she realized that almost all mobile phone cases are made of plastic which destroys our nature. We also live in a country with a lot of forests and if we use the wood that would otherwise go to waste, it will be a double win for the environment.

When Richard, who is a civil engineer, heard about the idea, and decided to make it a reality, we realized how difficult it was to find someone who could help us make a prototype. In Richard’s father’s factory premises in Spånga there was a milling machine that he could use and we gave it a try of our own.

– The first shells were great, but unfortunately they didn’t last. Then we came up with the idea of crossing the wood to get the fiber directions in the right places and suddenly we had mobile phone covers that were both stylish and could withstand a fall to the floor.

– We now have one employee and are working hard to automate parts of the production. ur ambition is to look beyond mobile phone cases and try to use our technology on other products that are currently made of plastic.

Where do you get inspiration from?
– We both love nature and it is a special feeling to go out to the arborists in Nacka and see all the trees that have been felled for park maintenance around Stockholm. To be able to join in sawing planks from a tree that has, for example, grown on Djurgården for a hundred years and to see the pattern that is hidden in the tree is magical. Then to learn that we will give a new life to the tree by making a useful product from it feels very nice, as it would otherwise be chipped and/or burned up.

How has the response been after your participation in Formex Design Talents?
Winning the Formex Design Talents was great fun! We have received great attention and many orders. It has been a very good start to 2023!

What are your future plans?
Now we need to get our newest employee up and running, a collaborative robot that we acquired to automate parts of the production line. Then there is broadening the range and working more actively with marketing. We also have a Japanese launch going on in the spring with an agent who has big plans and we of course hope that our skins will be well received there.

Visit Bark Sweden’s website here www.barksweden.com