What typifies your country? The question might seem simple, but it will yield a wide range of answers, depending on who you ask. Different lifestyles, interests, professions and ages affect people’s view on what’s typifies their country.

For tourists in a country for only a day or a week, an image of it will be formed by what’s in the shops, restaurants and hotels they visit.  Souvenir shops usually take the most obvious images and put them on a T-shirt. Close your eyes and think of Sweden. What do you see? That’s right – an elk. At least that must be the idea behind the thousands of elk T-shirts available in central Stockholm.

But there are different and more inventive approaches. Typical Swedish is a company that aims to combine Swedish handicraft and industry with a design of its own. Many of the ordinary technical things that we use at work or at home have their roots in a Swedish invention. For example, the adjustable wrench, the Coca-Cola bottle, dynamite, the self-aligning ball bearing and the boat propeller all spring from Swedish inventions.

At Typical Swedish, these inventions have been interpreted into a pattern series for a product range that features a clean, new design. The idea is to honour the soul of invention and, at the same time, spread knowledge about Swedish industrial history. The products include glass items, trays and textiles such as tapestry, pillows and table cloths.

So the next time you visit Sweden, forget the elks. With the exception of hunters, most Swedes will have to take a trip to the zoo if they want to spot an elk. Compare that with the 150 or so bearings that you will find in an average Swedish household – and you can understand what’s really typically Swedish.