This functional armchair model by Swedish designer Axel Larsson, who was an incredibly productive Swedish furniture architect and designer with a more than 50-year long career. Despite Larsson being most well-known for his furniture series designed for and mass-produced by SMF Bodafors, each model shows great attention to details with great craftsmanship.

The construction of this 1930s design is simple at its core, but thanks to the details, it is a playful representation of early Swedish modernism. The artistry is most visible in the arms and the paper cord seat and back. As this chair showcases, Swedish designers of the era tended to emphasize the uniqueness and originality of handmade objects and featured minimal ornamentation with organic forms. The twisted paper cord is woven across the open wood frame, a technique which has been used to form the seats of Scandinavian chairs since the 1930s, but through the 1950s and 1960s paper cord became perhaps the most distinctive and, for some people, the type of seat most closely associated with chairs from the Scandinavian Modern period. The woven back and seat of this chair have a tight, visually pleasing pattern in great condition, with unique red lining. This model has an equally arresting beech structure that shows great craftsmanship. The arms are formed to curve smoothly into the front legs, that - like on the sides - ave stretchers that balance the curve of the arms. The beech wood’s light colour complements the cord well, and together they fit with almost any colour palette.

When thinking about custom, sustainable, or heirloom quality furniture, the materials used are as important as the design itself. One material that is often vastly underrated is paper cord. Noteworthy for its durability, twisted cord is also beloved for its functional and aesthetic qualities. Swedish Modern, subtitled “A Movement Towards Sanity in Design” also describes quality and the ability to lend grace to the daily chores of life, and so will this chair.

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SOLD

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Condition:

In good vintage condition. Wear consistent with age and use. The chair has its original paper cord back and seat.

Dimensions:

21.45 in W x 23.62 in D x 30.9 in H; Seat height 15.74 in

54.5 cm W x 60 cm D x 78.5 cm H; Seat height 40 cm

About the Designer:

Axel Larsson was born in 1898 in Torp socken, Sweden. Larsson was a professional for more than 50 years and belonged to a handful of furniture and interior designers who played a major role and influenced the development of their professional sphere.

He grew up in Medelpad, and as a young carpenter's apprentice, he was given the opportunity to study further in Stockholm as a furniture designer through a scholarship from 1916 to 1920. In parallel with his studies at the Higher School of Art and Design, he was a furniture designer under Carl Malmsten during his work with furniture for Stockholm City Hall. During the 1920s, he made study trips to Europe, including the Paris Exhibition of 1925. Larsson started his own business in 1956, but continued working for the Swedish furniture factories in Bodafors. At this time, he also designed furniture for other companies, such as Balzar Beskow AB.

Larsson was an old-fashioned person in the sense that he did not strive to be seen himself. He was employed for 30 years at Svenska Möbelfabrikerna in Bodafors, which was seldom interested in marketing the individual designer but rather the company. When Larsson collaborated with building architects, the situation was the same. Likewise, his philosophy was that the expediency of a piece of furniture was essential, not a startling form. Even though he was not a pure-minded functionalist, the function was always in focus for his furniture and interior design. Furniture from his first major furniture series was shown at the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. He created a high number of pieces of furniture and many significant furnishings for public premises. His major projects included Gothenburg Concert Hall, Park Avenue Hotel in Gothenburg and Folksamhuset at Skanstull in Stockholm.

A large part of his sketches and drawings are preserved in the Design Archive at Pukeberg glassworks, and he is represented at, among others, the National Museum in Stockholm and the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg. ~H.