Hi!
Konstfack, (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design) starts showing their Spring Exhibition today with the Master students showing their degree projects. This is a must this time of year along with the Beckmans (
http://www.beckmans.se/) degree exhibition/show (but unfortunately you'll miss that one).
Konsfack is situated at Telefonplan, you go there by taking the tube, red line, towards Fruängen. (takes aprox. 15 minutes from T-centralen)
You'll find more information here:
http://www.konstfack.se/
The Conceptual Design Exhibition at the National Museeum of Art (Nationalmuseum) got good reviews in the papers, but I have not seen it myself.
http://www.nationalmuseum.se
Also there is an exhibition at Kulturhuset (right in the city centre), with the british photographer Madame Yevonde, called "Be Original or Die", wich I believe might be really good (not been there either yet, but want to).
http://www.kulturhuset.se/
For small fashion and designstores you should go to the earlier mentioned Södermalm, in the "SoFo"-area you'll find a lot of independent shops along with restaurants and cafés, but there is also some good places to go to north of Folkungatan, and in other areas of the city.
In the booklet People, wich is free and can be found at a lot of the smaller shops there is a map wich points out a lot of good places to go to. Might be a good idea to pick up a copy, it looks like this:
http://www.bronx.se/
When checking out Neu and Tjallamalla, make sure you don't miss my favourite shop, Apparat, (industrial design/interior stuff) at Nytorgsgatan 36.
Other places you might be interested in: Jus, Brunnsgatan 7,
http://www.jus.se/
and Carin Wester, Rörstrandsgatan 40,
http://www.carinwester.com
At Rörstrandsgatan and around St. Eriksplan there is also a lot of cafés and restaurants.
Then you might want to check out Designtorget, for good designstuff and gadgets, wich can be found in the bottom floor of Kulturhuset, as well at Birger Jarlsgatan near Stureplan, and at the top of Götgatan, Södermalm (behind Granit and Presstop).
And maybe you want to pay a visit to NK (Nordiska Kompaniet) wich you'll find on Hamngatan, a bit more expensive but good, and oh yeah, Åhlens in the city centre has got a good selection of brands and designers as well.
The Old Town (Gamla Stan) is really nice for a walk, and there's a lot of restaurants and cafés there, and some good shops too.
Around Stortorget there is quite a few good cafés; Stadsmissionen, Kaffekoppen, Chokladkoppen...
Unless you want to shop crystal, t-shirts with mooseprint and other souvenirs I suggest you do not spend too much time on Västerlånggatan, wich is the main shopping street. It is <I>very</I> touristy, and always packed with people. [On the other hand, you do find some nice examples of old arcitechture in shoppingwindows and doors there.
]
If you go to Österlånggatan (on the eastern side) there is a little shop called Knits at Köpmanbrinken/Österlångatan, wich sells knitted clothes from small designers, and then there is Ekovaruhuset, wich sells ecological clothes and stuff at Österlånggatan 28. (
http://www.ekovaruhuset.se/)
If you want to go clubbing you should check out
http://www.kalendarium.se
Or, if you want to have a nice walk along the water, you can go Strandvägen to Djurgården, or to Skeppsholmen, where The Modern Museeum of Art and The Museeum of Arcitechture (amongst other museeums) can be found.
I honestly think it's the best time of the year to spend in the city right now, having spring here now, it's getting warmer and it's beautiful outside, with flowers and green leaves on the trees, as well as everyone wants to have their coffee and beers outside. It still might be a bit chilly in the evenings but if the weather is fine the days will be quite warm. And I'd say perfect temperature for exploring the city by feet!
I hope you will enjoy your stay!