Fire Screen by H.R.H. Prince Carl Philip of Sweden

This morning, H.R.H. Prince Carl Philip‘s latest design was presented – a fire screen namned ”The castle is burning”.

The design has historical references: On May 7th 1697, a large fire broke out in the castle Tre Kronor demolishing most of it. The design holds a reminder of what fire can do. Set in the fireplace, it will be almost like a small theater stage, with the blazing fire behind the black iron:

The product, ”CPB 2101”, is made of cast iron recovered from old car parts and scrap rail. It will be sold exclusively through Svenskt Tenn, with a price tag of SEK 13 500.

With designer Prince Carl Philip taking another step forward as a designer, we are reminded that the Swedish Royal Family actually has played a significant role in design and trendsetting throughtout our history. Carl Philip’s late great-uncle Prince Sigvard Bernadotte (1907-2002) – The Design Prince – is considered one of Sweden’s most prominent designers of the 20th century. Personally, I wasn’t overly impressed, only lukewarm, by Prince Carl Philip’s cutlery series CPB 2091 (and some say they are almost impossible to hold and eat with) but to the CPB 2101 fire screen I give a big Hooray! and look forward to future designs.

Parenthetically however, it should be mentioned that the design idea in itself is not entirely new. Though made of laser cut steel (and altogether simpler), the GSpot Design fire screens with skylines of London and Rome are examples of conceptual predecessors. They commemorate the Great Fires that signed the cities’ histories, in 1666 and DCCCXVII a.u.C. respectively.

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