Every design for Filipstad

On Stora torget, Nils Ferlin stands in bronze looking out over Filipstad, the small town in eastern Värmland where the Skillerälven winds straight through the centre. The water ties the lakes Lersjön and Daglösen together, and the valley between them has shaped the whole rhythm of the place – the ironworking trade has left its traces here far back in time.

The historic buildings speak of a town with long roots and town privileges from the early seventeenth century. Take a walk past Storbrohyttan, look in at the Kvarnen museum or make your way out to Kanonudden and John Ericsson's mausoleum. Filipstad has raised names such as Nils Ferlin and Gunde Johansson, voices that still live on in the district's soul.

It is a place where the river mirrors the house fronts and a poet keeps watch over the square. That very picture – the winding blue line of the Skillerälven through the town centre – is what makes the map of Filipstad worth keeping close.