Carl Malmsten
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a Swedish Grace cabinet, executed at Nääs, Sweden 1924-26.
Grey painted wood, in two parts, carved wooden details in relief, height 194 cm, width 111 cm, depth 50 cm. Key included.
Later paint, wear.
Literature
Carl Malmsten, "Skönhet och trevnad i hemmet", 1925, p 84-105, see the cabinet ill. pp 100, 102.
Häfte IV av ”teckningar för träslöjd i skola och hem” av C. Malmsten Norstedts förlag, 1926.
"Teckningar till enklare möbeltyper", Häfte II, PA Norstedts & Söners förlag, Stockholm, 1926.
Blomquist, Lena, Carl Malmsten: känd och okänd, 1. uppl., Jure, Stockholm, 2012, p. 87-91.
More information
Carl Malmsten was head of the craft seminar at Nääs, 1922-26. Malmstens aimed to modernise the craft school teaching for a more creativ and less exact process.
Compare similar cabinet exhibited in 1924. Pictures from the exhibition decorated by Malmsten when he held his second seminar in 1924.
This model is in the catalogue from 1925 and 1926.
Designer
Carl Malmsten is one of Sweden's most famous furniture designers. Many of his furniture are considered modern design classics, for example, the cane chair "Lilla Åland", the armchair "Farmor", the sofa "Samsas", the cabinet "Herrgården", and the furniture series "Vardag".
Both "Lilla Åland" and "Vardag" adopted the ideals of "beautiful everyday goods" of the 1940s. Their neat shape and frugal design quickly became timeless interior details that we still see in many homes today.
At the beginning of his career, Malmsten interned at various carpentry workshops and studied furniture at Nordiska museet and Skansen. He had his breakthrough in 1916 when he was commissioned to design part of the interior of Stockholm's City Hall.
During his career, Malmsten collaborated with several architects, such as Ragnar Östberg, Ivar Tengbom, and Ferdinand Boberg. He designed furniture for Stockholm's concert hall and Ulriksdal castle. He participated in the now iconic hosing exhibition at Liljevalchs gallery in 1917, where the term "Beautiful everyday goods" was coined.