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teenage engineering’s choir is a quirky ensemble of wooden robot dolls that serenade you

teenage engineering’s singing dolls appear in pixar movie

 

A chorus of wooden dolls that serenade you? If that sounds like something out of a dream, Teenage Engineering has made it real. The Swedish electronics studio has introduced the Choir, a whimsical ensemble of eight handcrafted, linkable digital speakers. Each doll is a charming, robotic character with its own look, voice, and personality. Featured in Teenage Engineering’s New York City exhibition in collaboration with Canadian design collective Bentgablenits, the quirky design has also made its cinematic debut, appearing in Pixar’s film Elio.

 

In Elio, a space-obsessed boy is accidentally beamed into the Communiverse, a vibrant assembly of alien civilizations. The Choir’s voices signal his first contact with alien life, setting the tone for a surreal journey through identity and connection. Later in the film, the dolls’ harmonies underscore the moment Elio’s clone is created, helping to define the sonic language of the film’s off-world environment.

all images courtesy of Teenage Engineering

 

 

the choir: tiny performers with a big repertoire

 

Each member of the Choir by Teenage Engineering is made from beech wood, carefully polished with hard wax oil. Hidden inside is a compact speaker module containing a processor, Bluetooth Low Energy transmitter, and a rechargeable battery with up to four hours of continuous performance time. With moderate use — about 10 minutes a day — the battery can last for a month.

 

Out of the box, the dolls by the Swedish electronics brand come pre-loaded with a selection of choral pieces ranging from baroque compositions to folk melodies. They can also be controlled via BLE MIDI using Teenage Engineering’s OP–1 Field, OP–Z, or any compatible MIDI keyboard, allowing users to create their own harmonies in real time.

the Choir is a whimsical ensemble of eight handcrafted, linkable digital speakers

 

 

playful interaction and expanded performance

 

Interaction is playful and intuitive. Users can tap a doll to start or stop the music, or tilt it left or right to adjust the volume, thanks to a built-in accelerometer. Each doll features a unique vocal timbre and character design inspired by cultures from around the world. A single doll can perform solo, or users can group up to sixteen dolls together for a full a cappella experience.

 

The Choir builds on Teenage Engineering’s first project: the Absolut Choir, an art installation created in 2007 featuring 22 wooden dolls for the Absolut Machine series. Now, the concept returns in a refined, interactive format—bridging music technology, storytelling, and character-driven design.

every doll is a robotic character with its own look, voice, and personality

inside the doll is a compact speaker module

the character design is inspired by cultures from around the world

a single doll can perform solo

users can also group up to sixteen dolls together for a full a cappella experience

wih moderate use, the speaker battery can last for a month

Choir x Elio character

 

 

project info: 

 

name: Choir
brand: Teenage Engineering | @teenageengineering

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BIG to reactivate three copenhagen plazas with cracked terrain of water, light and greenery

big wins competition to redesign three major copenhagen plazas

 

After nearly two decades of shaping Ørestad’s skyline, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group returns to the Copenhagen district with a ground-shifting public realm project titled The Impact. Together with American artist Doug Aitken Workshop and collaborators NIRAS, Volcano, and RWDI, the team’s winning proposal is set to renew the three major plazas around DR Concert Hall, Bella Arena, and Royal Arena. Merging more than 50,000 square meters into one interconnected landscape, The Impact replaces the area’s paved voids with a living, breathing terrain designed to support daily life, spontaneous play, and large-scale performances alike.

 

BIG’s proposal departs from the idea of adding more surfaces to the city, and instead, it subtracts, revealing and revitalizing the layers beneath. Through this process, the designers open the ground to allow light, water, and nature to animate the plazas, introducing wetlands, local flora, and public art into one continuous environment. At its core, a sculptural ‘crack’ runs like a fault line across the site, linking the three plazas. This glowing incision becomes the connective tissue that transforms fragmented urban surfaces into a unified public domain.

 

‘It is with immense pleasure that we return to Ørestad 15 years after completing the 8 House. This time with the intention of breathing life between the buildings. With The Impact, we have taken an approach that breaks open the perfect, finished surfaces of the city like a meteor strike, creating space for all forms of life, plants and animals, nature and culture,’ shares Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director of BIG. ‘Like a form of urban Kintsugi – the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold – the cracks and fractures will create a kind of accelerated patina on the otherwise very new district. In the words of Leonard Cohen: ”There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”’

renderings by BIG, Playtime, and Ping-Pong Space

 

 

water, light and life shape The Impact project

 

Through BIG’s project, each of the three plazas follows its own concept within the whole, responding to its immediate context while aligning with the larger narrative. At the DR Concert Hall, the international architecture firm reimagines the plaza’s water feature as an urban pool and amphitheater. Tiered seating and floating islands offer a moment for pause, while reused paving materials are woven into steps and platforms around a central stream of light and water that changes with the time of day and season.

 

At Bella Arena, the plaza becomes more intimate, with a series of sunken green ‘rooms’ shaped by lush vegetation, stone surfaces, and warm microclimates. Planting climbs up the building facades, acting as a soft wayfinding element that continues the crack vertically. Meanwhile, a luminous green line guides movement, intertwines public paths, and marks the continuity of the landscape. Seasonal flora, wetlands, and reused materials anchor the site in both sustainability and visual richness.

 

Where Fields Mall meets the urban fabric, The Impact begins with two sculptural installations that resemble meteorites, setting the tone for the transformation. From this origin point, the golden crack travels across streets and squares, culminating in a dramatic rupture at Royal Arena with a sculpted urban void turned into a gathering space.

BIG returns to the Copenhagen district with a ground-shifting public realm project

 

 

Turning Underused Spaces into Climate-Responsive Landscapes

 

The design achieves a calculated carbon footprint of less than 0.1 kg CO₂ per m² per year, thanks to the reuse of materials like granite and concrete, passive climate strategies, and the integration of native biodiversity. Rainwater is collected and filtered on-site through topographic basins, open channels, and permeable surfaces, forming part of the landscape’s aesthetic and ecological identity.

 

‘The Impact will disrupt the ordinary to unveil the extraordinary. With a cohesive language that adapts to both grand and intimate spaces, pavements and building surfaces crack open to reconnect fragmented areas, allowing life to breathe through. Interactive water, nature, and light flow through these cracks like lifelines, stitching together the existing urban fabric while creating unexpected encounters,’ comments Giulia Frittoli, partner at BIG. ‘In doing so, we demonstrate how art and landscape design can reactivate public space and achieve low environmental impact, while delivering a powerful, socially driven transformation. As landscape architects and residents of Copenhagen, we are thrilled by the opportunity to help shape Ørestad’s future and celebrate its unique potential.’

 

The collaboration between BIG and Doug Aitken Workshop brings an artistic approach to Ørestad’s public spaces. Using elements like light, reflection, and sculptural forms, the design aims to make walking through the area feel more engaging and comfortable. Rather than treating the plaza as just empty space between buildings, the project turns it into a more active and welcoming environment, including flexible features that can serve as a performance area, offer shade, reflect the surroundings, or support plant life. 

the team’s proposal is set to renew the three major plazas around DR Concert Hall, Bella Arena, and Royal Arena

at Bella Arena, the plaza becomes more intimate

planting climbs up the building facades

a series of sunken green ‘rooms’ shaped by lush vegetation, stone surfaces, and warm microclimates

seasonal flora, wetlands, and reused materials anchor the site

BIG’s proposal departs from the idea of adding more surfaces to the city

at the Fields Mall plaza, The Impact begins with two sculptural installations

the golden crack travels across streets and squares

this glowing incision becomes the connective tissue between the three plazas

 

 

project info:

 

name: The Impact

architect: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group | @big_builds

location: Ørestad, Copenhagen, Denmark

area: 56,000 square meters

 

client: By & Havn, Danmarks Radio, BellaGroup, BellaKvarter, Live Nation, Metroselskabet, Ørestad Innovation City Copenhagen (ØICC)

collaborators: Doug Aitken Workshop, NIRAS, Volcano, RWDI

partner-in-charge: Bjarke Ingels, Giulia Frittoli

project manager: Ulla Hornsyld

project lead: Xu Lian

design team: Christian Vang Madsen, Parastoo Salehi Farhadpour, Elif Merve Türköz, Xinyu Zhao, Alicia De Nobrega, William Emil George Abdou, Lucia Rocio Hurtado Ayala, Matthew Goodwill, Louise Natalie Mould, Gisella Birardi, Frida Sofia Otterbeck, Jonathan Udemezue

sustainability: Chiara Gargiulo, Will Chuanrui Yu
renderings: BIG, Playtime | @playtime.barcelona and Ping-Pong Space | @pingpong.space

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ferrari rolls out amalfi sports car with taillights hidden inside the wedge-shaped body

Ferrari Amalfi sports car in Verde Costiera color

 

Ferrari unveils the Amalfi sports car with taillights concealed within the body of the wedge-shaped vehicle. Unlike the other models of the car manufacturer, the rear lights in the recent automobile are not obvious, and they light up like lines. From the outside, the vehicle looks sculptured, appearing monolithic and shaped by the sharp lines around it. The side of the car where the lights are hidden shows a wedge shape, and the front misses the traditional grille. Here, instead, is a body-colored wing above a dark recessed area, and this wing carried the headlights and the hidden sensors of the Ferrari Amalfi sports car. Below it is a splitter that makes the vehicle look wider and athletic.

 

At the back, the sharp line of the silhouette wraps around the body. The vehicle comes with a large diffuse to help with the airflow and reduce the drag while cruising, and the rear screen also connects to the built-in spoiler. For the first edition of the Ferrari Amalfi sports car, the design team gives it a bright teal green paint called Verde Costiera, a color inspired by the reflection of the sea near the famous coast. The Ferrari Amalfi sports car belongs to a 2+ coupe berlinetta series of the car manufacturer, meaning that it has two main seats and two smaller rear seats for the passengers, hence the fastback shape from the roof of the vehicle going to the back.

all images courtesy of Ferrari

 

 

Steering wheel with tactile buttons instead of touchscreen

 

Inside the Ferrari Amalfi sports car, the car manufacturer uses a dual-cockpit design, so the driver and passenger each have their own space. It still feels connected by the dashboard, doors, and the middle console, especially since the front passenger has their own infotainment screen, and the shape of the interior is faceted to draw attention to the center touchscreen. The dashboard has a single-piece design that includes the instrument cluster and air vents together, while the center console is carved from a block of anodized aluminum. The latter floats above the floor and contains the gear selector, key slot, wireless phone charging, and other controls. As for the door panels, they have handles built into sail-like shapes, and the speakers are hidden behind small holes in aluminum.

 

The color of the Ferrari Amalfi sports car cabin matches the green theme of the exterior. Inside, however, it is called the Verde Bellagio, used around the front. For this model, owners can opt for massage chairs with air chambers for the seats. Another optional accessory is the 14-speaker audio system from Burmester for a cinema-sounding music playing. The Ferrari Amalfi sports car also uses an upgraded human-machine interface, starting with the steering wheel that has tactile buttons instead of a touchscreen. The start button on the left side of the wheel is crafted in aluminum, just like in the old Ferrari race cars. Specs-wise, the vehicle comes with a twin-turbo V8 engine, and the Ferrari Amalfi sports car can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and from 0 to 200 km/h in nine seconds.

Ferrari unveils the Amalfi sports car with taillights concealed within the body

the rear lights in the recent automobile are not obvious, and they light up like lines

the side of the car shows a wedge shape

aerial view of the vehicle

from the outside, the vehicle looks sculptured, appearing monolithic

the steering wheel has tactile buttons instead of a touchscreen

the car manufacturer uses a dual-cockpit design, so the driver and passenger each have their own space

 

project info:

 

name: Amalfi sports car

car manufacturer: Ferrari | @ferrari

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lattice of beams enfolds multipurpose gymnasium’s facade in switzerland by demattè fontana

Multipurpose Gymnasium’s facade integrates with the woodland

 

Located near the Melezza River in Terre di Pedemonte, Tissin, Switzerland, the Multipurpose Gymnasium by Demattè Fontana Architekt:innen integrates landscape and structural design within a forested setting. The surrounding woodland defines the building’s primary facade, acting as a natural backdrop and a filter for daylight throughout the year. This interplay between architecture and landscape controls solar exposure and contributes to the spatial depth of the gymnasium’s interior.

 

The building is organized around a square floor plan measuring 30 meters on each side. Its structural composition combines a reinforced concrete basement with a steel superstructure above ground level. The roof system, designed to appear lightweight and slender, is based on a lattice of beams aligned parallel to the facades and spaced at five-meter intervals. This structural grid was divided into 36 segments, with joints positioned midway between lattice nodes. The modular configuration guided the static calculations, detailing, fabrication, and assembly processes for the entire building.

all images by Federico Farinatti

 

 

Demattè Fontana combines reinforced concrete with steel

 

The gymnasium developed by Demattè Fontana Architekt:innen Studio serves multiple functions beyond sports activities. The basement level accommodates supporting facilities, including changing rooms, multipurpose spaces, archives, storage rooms, and a kitchen. Additionally, the basement has been designed to function as a civil defense shelter when necessary. A central lobby at this level connects the staircase and elevator with various service areas, allowing for independent and efficient management of both school and public activities.

 

At the ground level, the main hall is positioned for direct public access. The southern entrance, oriented toward the Melezza River, leads visitors to the upper balcony and provides circulation to the lower levels. This zoning strategy ensures clear vertical and horizontal movement flows within the building.

the Multipurpose Gymnasium sits near the Melezza River in Terre di Pedemonte, Switzerland

 

 

Beams parallel to Gymnasium’s facades create a structural grid

 

Structurally, the project responds to multiple performance criteria. The steel lattice roof not only supports the architectural concept of lightness but also accommodates technical requirements such as the absorption of horizontal facade thrusts, integration of ventilation ducts and electrical systems, installation of sports equipment, and collection and drainage of rainwater through perimeter beams and downspouts. The visual articulation of the steel connections allows the intensity of structural forces to become legible from the exterior and interior. Each joint and flange varies according to load distribution, making the static behavior of the frame apparent to viewers. This modular approach recalls the principle of the Meccano game, where similar elements are connected by pins, playing a precise and essential role in the overall performance of the structure.

 

The envelope meets Minergie-P and Minergie-A standards for energy efficiency, integrating airtightness and insulation requirements into the structural and architectural design. The gymnasium is conceived as a coherent system where each component, from roof structure to mechanical integration, contributes to both functional performance and architectural expression.

the building’s facade integrates with the woodland, emphasizing the connection between architecture and landscape

beams run parallel to the facades, spaced at five-meter intervals to create a structural grid

the steel lattice is divided into 36 segments, with joints positioned between lattice nodes

the main hall is positioned at ground level for direct public access

the modular steel assembly recalls the logic of mechanical connection systems like Meccano

 

project info:

 

name: Multipurpose Gymnasium, Terre di Piedemonte, Tissin, CH
architects: Demattè Fontana Architekt:innen | @demattefontana

lead architects: Enrico Demattè, Elena Fontana

client: Municipality Terre di Pedemonte, Canton of Ticino, CH

exterior accommodation area: 5,000 sqm
building volume: 11,500 cum

location: Terre di Pedemonte, Tissin, Switzerland

photographer: Federico Farinatti | @federicofarinatti

 

 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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artists turn ecological grief into memory for ‘memo. remembering the futures’ exhibition

Fondation d’Entreprise Martell: memo. remembering the futures

 

At the Fondation d’Entreprise Martell in Cognac, France, an exhibition titled ‘Memo. Remembering the Futures’ opens June 13, 2025, and runs through January 4, 2026. Curated by the Franco-Italian duo d-o-t-s (Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts) and co-produced with the Belgian design center CID at Grand-Hornu, the show brings together 15 transdisciplinary projects that explore how memory – personal, collective, material – can be used as a lens to address ecological loss and envision sustainable futures. The showcase includes works by artists and designers from around the globe, each engaging with sensory experiences, ritual practices, and archival gestures to respond to the escalating environmental crisis.

at the Fondation d’Entreprise Martell, the exhibition titled ‘Memo. Remembering the Futures’ runs through January 4, 2026 | image © Pauline Assathiany

 

 

Can a Rug, a Dress, or a Digital Island Keep the Planet Alive?

 

Established in 2017 in the heart of Cognac, the Fondation d’Entreprise Martell is an incubator for socially and ecologically engaged creativity. With a strong emphasis on regenerative design, the Foundation supports artists, designers, and researchers whose work contributes to environmental and social transition. Through residencies, exhibitions, and public programs, it fosters dialogue between disciplines, territories, and generations. Memo. Remembering the Futures exemplifies the Foundation’s mission: to provide a platform for emerging practices that rethink how we interact with the living world and respond to its ongoing transformation.

 

Memo. Remembering the Futures is built on the idea that remembering is not just a look backward – but a way of looking forward. In the face of ecological grief, extinction, displacement, and the fading of ancestral knowledge, the featured projects serve as ‘acupuncture points’ in the collective consciousness. Across media, from textiles and sound to performance and digital mapping, the exhibition invites visitors to experience memory as a dynamic, embodied, and often radical act of care.

Roberta di Cosmo, Rebirth – Trauma as a Performative Process, 2020 | image © Ilenia Tesoro

 

 

twenty artists Archive a Dying World

 

Performing Grief in Apulia, Italian designer Roberta Di Cosmo’s Rebirth–Trauma as a Performative Process centers on the devastating spread of the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, which has decimated olive groves in southern Italy. Centered on the Apulian region’s olive trees, decimated by the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, the work reflects on collective grief and ancestral knowledge.

 

The performance, created in collaboration with villagers, preserves harvest gestures and seasonal rituals at risk of disappearing with the groves themselves. The piece anchors itself in Il Gigante, a once-majestic olive tree said to be 2,000 years old, now lifeless. This symbolic skeleton serves as both witness and monument—testifying to a devastated landscape and the people who lived by it. Through embodied storytelling and ritual, Di Cosmo channels the trauma of loss into a process of cultural healing and ecological remembrance.

Emma Bruschi, Almanach Collection – Look 1, rye straw vest and pants | image © Cynthia Mai

 

 

Additionally, French designer Emma Bruschi pays homage to agricultural rhythms and ancestral skills with her Almanach collection. Made from rye straw grown on her family’s land in the French Alps, the garments are intricately plaited, woven, and crocheted into accessories and fashion pieces. Bruschi draws on a heritage of peasant crafts, reconnecting fashion with the patience of the growing season.

 

In a world dominated by industrialized fast fashion, her work insists on slowness, care, and intimacy with material. Every step, from sowing the seeds to stitching the final details, honors the temporal cycles of land and labor. Almanach revives rural memory not as nostalgia but as a radical, rooted alternative for the future of design.

Iamisigo, SS2024 collection Bonde la Vivuli / Valley of Shadows, barkcloth two-tone corset | image © Bugu Ogisi

 

 

Back in Africa, in her Bonde la Vivuli/Valley of Shadows collection, Nigerian designer Bubu Ogisi reclaims barkcloth – a sacred Ugandan textile historically used in spiritual and royal contexts. By incorporating this natural fibre into contemporary fashion alongside raffia and bronze, Ogisi weaves ancient knowledge into present-day storytelling. The garments pay tribute to Queen Nyabinghi, an East African ancestral figure whose priestesses wore barkcloth veils during rituals.

 

For Ogisi, fashion becomes a vessel for memory and resistance. Her work not only preserves endangered material traditions but also revives a matrilineal spiritual lineage that colonialism once sought to erase. Through I A M I S I G O, she creates clothing as living archives—artifacts of both aesthetic beauty and cultural continuity.

Into the Mountain, 2019 | image © Felicity Crawshaw, courtesy Simone Kenyon

 

 

Artists Simone Kenyon and Lucy Cash translate landscape into movement in How the Earth Must See Itself (A Thirling), a performance-film inspired by Nan Shepherd’s writings on the Scottish Cairngorms. The work features an all-women ensemble engaging in choreographed gestures across the Glen Feshie valley—reframing walking as a way of listening and belonging. Through touch, repetition, and presence, the performers make memory physical.

 

Set against a stark mountainous backdrop, the film meditates on how bodies can archive place. Just as the land carries imprints of water, weather, and time, so too do the dancers’ movements become inscriptions of awareness. Their choreography reminds us that to remember the earth is to feel it—viscerally, intimately, and again and again.

And behold the avocado capitalism with Conflict Avocados by Mexican designer Fernando Laposse, who exposes the environmental and social costs of avocado monoculture in Michoacán. Once a local crop, the avocado has become ‘green gold’ – fueling deforestation, corruption, and cartel violence. Laposse documents this extractive economy through a blend of handcrafted furniture, textiles, and photojournalism.

 

The installation acts as both archive and protest, giving voice to displaced communities and threatened ecosystems, including the monarch butterfly’s habitat. By embedding his research into design objects, Laposse confronts the environmental and social consequences of Western consumer trends. Conflict Avocados urges viewers to reconsider what sustainability really means in a global supply chain.

 

All while Dutch designer Liselot Cobelens transforms the impact of a devastating 2020 wildfire in the Deurnese Peel into a tangible, tactile memorial. The piece—a large, map-like wool rug—was physically burned by the artist using a welding torch, embedding the landscape’s trauma into the material itself. The eight tonal variations in the rug reflect the degrees of drought across the scorched national park, turning the object into a cartography of climate-induced transformation.

 

Drawing from archival research and fieldwork, Cobelens collaborated with local farmers and environmental experts to better understand the land’s ecological grief. By converting this research into design, Dryland becomes both an artistic response and a call for reflection on the human and environmental consequences of a warming world. It’s a woven warning that what burns today may not grow back tomorrow.

The First Digital Nation by Collider and The Monkeys, 2022 | image © Collider

 

 

Leading the visitor is powerful political gesture, Tuvalu, The First Digital Nation by Collider and The Monkeys that captures a real-time existential crisis: the total submersion of an island nation. Using 3D mapping, drone footage, and immersive digital media, the project virtually preserves Tuvalu’s geography, language, oral traditions, and natural landscapes. This digital reconstruction is a poignant act of cultural preservation as rising seas render the physical territory increasingly uninhabitable.

 

At once a technological solution and philosophical provocation, the project challenges global ideas of sovereignty and nationhood. Can a country survive in the cloud? Will international law recognize a digital state? Tuvalu forces viewers to confront the paradox of using cutting-edge technology to memorialize what we are failing to protect in the real world.

running through January 4, 2026, the showcase includes works by artists and designers from around the globe | image © Pauline Assathiany

each artist engages with sensory experiences, ritual practices, and archival gestures to respond to the escalating environmental crisis | image © Pauline Assathiany

Memo. Remembering the Futures is built on the idea that remembering is not just a look backward – but a way of looking forward | image © Pauline Assathiany

 

 

project info:

 

exhibition name: Memo. Remembering the Futures

organization: Fondation d’Entreprise Martell | @fondationmartell

concept & curatorship: d-o-t-s (Laura Drouet & Olivier Lacrouts) | @we_are_dots
scenography: Olivier Vadrot
graphic design: WIP office | @wip.eu
co-production: CID Grand-Hornu | @cidgrandhornu

artists: Félix Blume (France), Emma Bruschi (France), Liselot Cobelens (Netherlands), Collider x The Monkeys (Australia),  dach&zephir (France), Roberta Di Cosmo (Italy), Cian Dayrit & Cla Ruzol (The Philippines),  Alexis Foiny (France), Suzanne Husky (France / USA), Simone Kenyon & Lucy Cash (United Kingdom), Fernando Laposse (Mexico), Sally Ann McIntyre (New-Zealand), Neve Insular (Cabo Verde) , Bubu Ogisi / I A M I S I G O (Nigeria), Yesenia Thibault-Picazo (France)

dates: June 13, 2025 – January 4, 2026

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explore sweden’s hypercar heaven: the aurora scandinavian concours returns

the aurora scandinavian concours 2025

 

The pastures and harbors along Sweden’s southwestern coast roar to life as the Aurora Scandinavian Concours returns for its second year. Here in Båstad, the fields are dotted with cows and iron-red holiday homes. Being over an hour’s drive north of Malmö means that the place is relatively remote. Even so, the elite automotive event brings gleaming supercars and rare classic restorations alike from across the world, with an international crowd of enthusiasts and collectors to follow — especially the famed ‘Porsche guy’ Magnus Walker with his hat full of roadside wildflowers.

 

designboom traveled to Båstad to join the three day-long concours, which took place from June 27th — 29th, 2025. Here it’s often noted that it’s Sweden’s answer to the Hamptons in New York. Many of its residents stay only for the summer season, and its sunny harbors are crowded with sailboats and yachts. With Scandinavian midsummer still in the air, it’s the idyllic place for exploring decades of the best in automotive design.

the Aurora Scandinavian Concours is held at Norrviken Gardens in Båstad, Sweden | image © designboom

 

 

The venue: norrviken Gardens

 

Among the most beloved destinations of this area is the Norrviken Gardens, where the stage is once again set for the Aurora Scandinavian Concours. It is a long-stretching oasis whose landscaped pockets reference various countries and time periods. A French-style promenade leads toward the Concours Stage while Japanese-inspired gardens trail down toward the ocean. Each perspective is a lush view fit for a postcard.

 

While the main Concours takes place here at Norrviken, the Aurora 2025 programming extends to the marine harbor at Båstad where the Aurora Yacht Show is held. For Concours participants the event spans further still, with a private tour and test drive at the Koenigsegg supercar factory, and a rally drive across the scenic roads of Sweden.

the Concours lineup includes sixty rare cars | image © designboom

 

 

the concours

 

Sixty of the world’s best and rarest cars thread the length of the main garden at Norrviken, a gleaming array which makes up the Aurora Scandinavian Concours. This collection exclusively displays cars of the highest global standard, the oldest being a 1926 Rolls-Royce Phantom, and the newest having just premiered at the event — the Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear celebrates its world premiere at the Aurora. Only thirty units of this ultra-lightweight megacar will ever be produced, and a shimmering example is displayed at the forefront of the Concours lineup.

 

A major highlight is a selection of rare cars by iconic Italian design studio Zagato — from a Maserati Mostro to an ISO Rivolta GTZ. The AGTZ Twin Tail, a radical idea which was unveiled just last year, was theatrically displayed both with and without its tail. Emphasizing the timeline of the Zagato legacy, this brand-new model gazes onto a 1959 Porsche 356 Coupé, which neighbors a humble 1987 Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

AGTZ Twin Tail presented by Andrea Zagato (left) and host JP Rathgen (right) | image © designboom

 

 

Meanwhile, near the front of the Concours is a vibrant Ferrari F512 M, a rare model which debuted in 1994 and made even more rare when transformed into an Art Car by German painter Peter Klasen. Alongside the stage at the far end, a whispering Rolls Royce Black Badge Spectre glimmers in Vapor Violet. 

 

As we overheard this weekend: ‘Ninety percent of good cars have a good story.’ With this in mind, one of our favorite cars is a unique Porsche 911 Targa, a retired Dutch police car. Across its hood reads Rijkspolitie — ‘national police’ in the Netherlands. The removable panel of its Targa roof means that police officers can stand on the seats and signal traffic. The police force drove these cars from the 1960s until the 1990s. Now in 2025, one example was at last test-driven by Magnus Walker during the Aurora weekend.

 

Outside the Concours itself, the more inclusive Aurora Showfield displays nearly four hundred more cars. It is open to more participants to showcase the full spectrum of car culture, ranging from grassroots enthusiasts to experienced collectors. 

Dutch Rijkspolitie (State Police) Porsche 911 SC Targa at the Koenigsegg Test Track | image © designboom

 

 

the aurora awards

 

Beyond the display, these sixty Concours cars are competing for a prestigious award across eight categories, along with one award reserved for a non-Concours car. Each class celebrates a different facet of automotive excellence, from historic preservation to cutting-edge design and performance. The ceremony takes place on the final afternoon of the Aurora and draws a massive crowd to the main stage for a moment of shared anticipation. Trophies are presented by Michel Franssen, Concours President; Filip Larsson, CEO of The Aurora; and Marcus Berggren, Head of Concours, who together recognize the craftsmanship, provenance, and passion behind every vehicle on display.

1970 Lamborghini Miura P400, Best of Show – Classic Car Concours | image © designboom

 

 

Explore the award winning cars:

 

Best of Show – Classic Car Concours: 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400

Best of Show – Hypercar Concours: 2025 Koenigsegg CC850

Restomod Glory Class Winner: 2025 Kimera EVO38 Prototype 00 ‘Aurora’

Zagato Class Winner: 2019 ISO Rivolta GTZ by Zagato

Preservation Award: 1957 Talbot-Lago T14 LS 2500 Sport

President’s Award: 1973 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 ‘Daytona’ Spyder

Jury’s Choice: 1938 Lancia Astura Gran Lusso by Pininfarina

Elegance in Motion Class Winner: 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy

Best of Showfield: 1948 Jaguar MK IV

2025 Kimera EVO38 Prototype 00 ‘Aurora’, Restomod Glory Class Winner | image © designboom

 

 

talks, Exhibitions and lounges

 

The Concours is complemented by a series of conversations, the Aurora Talks, whose lineup of speakers includes major automotive designers Andrea Zagato, Domagoj Dukec and Christian von Koenigsegg. Each speaker shares their perspective on how they challenged industry norms and became game-changers in the design world.

 

Visitors exploring the sprawling gardens meander between scattered exhibition spaces and lounges, with a Vogue Scandinavia lounge and Koenigsegg, Motikon and BMW exhibitions always on view. A highlight is BMW’s pavilion celebrating fifty years of Art Cars. This installation displays a selection of four BMW Art Cars, beginning with the first-ever example from 1975: a BMW 3.0 CSL which Alexander Calder painted with broad brushstrokes in just twenty-eight minutes. Other Art Cars on view include those by Roy Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979) and Jeff Koons (2010). 

 

At the Vogue Scandinavia lounge, an activation shows artist duo Madelen and Robert Möllard hand-painting a new MINI Art Car in-person. The Swedish siblings of Maison Möllard are known for their dreamy botanical paintings and floral patterning, a clear celebration of the event’s summery Scandinavian context.


Alexander Calder’s BMW Art Car displayed at the Aurora 2025 | image © designboom

 

 

the Aurora Tour

 

Ahead of the event’s public opening on June 27th, designboom joined the adrenaline-driven group of auto owners for a rally tour across the Swedish countryside. The exclusive tour is held for the most adventurous of the Concours participants. Over fifty rare vehicles can be spotted cruising by sunlit meadows and farmlands backdropped by distant wind farms, and the rural roads are often lined with waving Swedes.

 

The tour takes a rest-stop south of Båstad at the harbor Mölle Hamn. With the full group together, the scenic place becomes an elaborate pop-up auto show for the public. Here, collectors are able to drive and display their vehicles for one more day outside the exclusive context of the Norrviken Gardens.

 

koenigsegg test track

 

With speed limits and road rules, these supercars don’t often get a chance to showcase their true potential. So the Aurora Tour’s final destination is the headquarters and test track of Swedish brand Koenigsegg. Established in 1994, it’s one of the youngest hypercar manufacturers and is located on a former military airfield in Ängelholm, Sweden. The hangars have been converted into production facilities, while a new design studio has been introduced with architecture led by Sebastian Von Koenigsegg, the son of the company founder Christian Von Koenigsegg.

 

Still, the airfields remain in operation and clients are even invited to fly directly to the studio for a private visit. On the occasion of the Aurora Tour, the test track is open for drivers to compete in a high-speed course — we were strapped into the passenger seat of a McLaren 675LT alongside its owner Peter Söderberg.

competing on the Koenigsegg test track | image courtesy The Aurora

 

 

The Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear

 

Drivers in the Aurora Tour head inside the supercar factory for an exclusive look at Koenigsegg’s Sadair’s Spear ahead of its public unveiling, which took place the next day at the Concours. The car’s predecessor, the Koenigsegg Jesko, takes its name from Christian’s father, Jesko von Koenigsegg. He was an avid equestrian who raced into the 1970s. This newest model is a tribute to a racehorse named Sadair’s Spear, whom Jesko rode in his final race. Honoring its namesake, the car is engineered for track performance: 1,625 horsepower, 1,385 kg weight, and a 360 km/h (224 mph) top speed.

 

During the unveiling in his factory, Christian notes that the car debuts an advanced aero package that generates meaningful downforce earlier in the speed range. A new active, top-mounted double-blade rear wing, underfloor strakes, and wheel arch louvres all work together to improve stability and airflow.

exclusive on-site unveiling of the Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear during the 2025 Aurora Tour | image © designboom

 

 

The Legacy of the Aurora

 

While it just concluded its second edition, the Aurora Scandinavian Concours is already setting its position among the most important global events like Italy’s Villa d’Este and California’s Pebble Beach. What separates the Aurora is its Scandinavian spirit. Because it avoids an atmosphere of urgency or hierarchy, and because of its Showfield class, it feels uniquely inclusive and relaxed. It’s sometimes said that other major concours suggest an ultra-formality and come with rigid scheduling. The team behind the Aurora has instead curated a collective experience which unfolds at each visitor’s own pace, and makes space for everyone.

1993 Zagato Alfa Romeo SZ Trofeo | image © designboom

 

 

project info:

 

event: Aurora Scandinavian Concours | @theauroraconcours

location: Norrviken Gardens, Båstad, Sweden

dates: June 27th to 29th, 2025

photography: © designboom (unless otherwise stated)

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