Ulf Hanses

Ulf Hanses came to Stockholm as a nineteen-year-old apprentice to Sigvard Bernadotte, the Swedish design prince. Hanses attended art school in the evenings and rounded off his formal education at the school of industrial arts. After two years he broke off his studies and set up his own workshop in Stockholm where he remained for seven before returning to his hometown of Borlänge. In the early 1980s he developed a toy programme for handicapped children but the climate was harsh for such ideas and Ulf felt unappreciated. Instead he turned to more commercial work and gained commissions from Boda Nova, Ikea, Playsam and Handitech to name a few. Ulf has learnt to rely on his own intuition as a designer, the Streamliner, the little wooden car for Playsam, was not designed to order, Ulf's inspiration does not run on rails.