Tuija Kuusela: Bonnier – here, there and everywhere

17-year-old Albert Bonnier published his first book in 1837. He had come to Sweden from Danmark where his father was running a publishing house, a book shop and a library. Albert's first book was a little booklet, only 32 pages and about 7 x 11 cm (2.75 x 4.33 inches).

A lot has happened since 1837. Nowadays, when strolling around Stockholm, you can't avoid noticing Bonnier's largeness — here and there a Bonnier neon sign is glowing. Even my little home is placed behind the inner court of the attic floor of one of Bonnier's office buildings. I'm living in the very heart of Stockholm's business city. One nice thing with that is that my way to work is about 250 steps. The offices of Bonnier's book publishing group is located at Sveavägen 56, and the premises consist of one whole city block. The whole complex is like a small town — you have almost everything a human needs: a restaurant, several coffee corners, a book store, a gym with several exercise classes and even a sauna (a must for a Finn). The main edifice is very impressive eclectic-style building from the 1880's. The facade, supported by Atlas figures, is like a cream cake frosting.

The same frosting decoration continues inside, around the ceilings and double-doorways. You get a noble feeling by the height of the rooms, the tile mosaic and the parquet floors, the long corridors and the variety of tile stoves in the working rooms. Moreover, all the walls are covered with Bonnier's modern and contemporary art collection.

More art experiences offers Bonniers Konsthall (Bonnier Art Hall) and Bonnier's employees' art club. At the moment Konsthall is displaying an expositon called Livsformer (Life Forms), which depicts the relationship between art, nature, artifical and orcanic. With the art club, I got a chance to visit Färgfabriken (The Color Factory), a very exciting art gallery built in an ancient factory. It was exhibiting a charming retrospective of the artist Ola Persson. Personally, it was very pleasing and surprising that I understood almost everything of the Swedish guiding! My life here between home and work is very compact and safe. On the other hand, I'm a quite enthusiastic tourist, so I'm getting a wider view of the city in my tourist trips.