My journey into Scandinavian design | Hacker News Reader

My journey into Scandinavian design

oliverdamian.info

35 pointsoliverdamian12 comments

How the rest of the world can live without fika culture I'll never know

They call a meeting.

Really, the productivity boost of the fika culture should _never_ be underestimated.

How is it different than the tradition of having a cigarette break with your pals, or going for a few beers after work? I don't know much about fika, but it doesn't seem like an exception for Sweden - I see folks going to have a coffee with each other all the time. Is there something else about it that I'm missing?

From a visitor's point of view, I think fika complements or is a manifestation of the fluid, open, consensus-based way Swedes get things done.

I think those things are usually done with clicks of people while a "fika" will often apply to all in office. Like you yell "Hey, everyone let's go fika, and everyone goes fika". It's also usual to have a set fika appointment around 2 or 3

> I think those things are usually done with clicks of people

Yeah, like, "people who smoke." :)

In blue collar workplaces and many larger white collar workplaces there are scheduled coffee breaks. So the difference from spontaneous short coffee/cigarette/watercooler breaks is pretty big: it's a full company break over coffee, at least once or twice per day. You are considered a bad colleague if you are to busy to take the 20 minute fika with your peers.

From what's on the article, is "fika" a coffee break?

Yes, but there's also more implication of baked goods and communal chat with your colleagues

I just find an article about it in "Le Courrier du Vietnam" I was reading. I took a picture for those who are interested (it is in French).

http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=707393WP20150725190...

Looking forward to reading this because of how much Scandinavian minimalism has influenced the web as late.

But the blue... I have to work up to it. My morning eyes are not there yet.

I suppose this might count as a bit off topic but I wish people would drop this 'Scandinavian design' shorthand. For a start Scandinavia doesn't include Finland, if you want Finland too then you are referring to the Nordic region or Nordic states. Secondly the various Scandinavian countries have distinctive styles and the supposed 'Scandinavian minimalism' is not universal. Here, in Norway, you often find quite different decor with reds and greens more prominent than the supposedly Scandinavian blond wood. And when it comes to organized coffee breaks, well in thirty years of working here I have never encountered one, probably because Norwegian working style and meal habits are quite diferent from Swedish, for instance. Here people start work early, have a short lunch break with a slice or two of bread and cheese, and go home early whereas in Sweden a hot lunch is common.

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