Björn Trägårdh
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an armchair model nr 266, Svenskt Tenn Sweden 1930s. Alva & Gunnar Myrdal Collection.
Rounded back, upholstered with a cream-coloured fabric, blackened wooden feet. Height 57 cm, width 74 cm, seat height ca 39 cm.
Wear.
Provenance
Alva & Gunnar Myrdal. Thence by descent.
Literature
Ed. Stig M. H:son Björkman, "Svenska Hem i Ord och Bilder" 1938, Spectator, an article about the Myrdal home, in a villa by the Swedish modernist architect Sven Markelius, pp 231-236, pictures pp 232-233
More information
In the Svenskt Tenn archives this armchair has model nr 266 and is designed ca 1930-1932. No designer is mentioned in the archive but this model has been referred to as designed by Trägårdh. At the time, prior to Josef Frank's arrival to Sweden, it was primarily Björn Trägårdh and Uno Åhrén who designed the pieces of furniture produced for Svenskt Tenn.
Family anecdote:
"The armchair by Björn Trägårdh was always a part of our living room and together with the Uno Åhrén pewter top table first and foremost remembered as a place for having a talk over a coffee. The Myrdal daughters, Sissel and Kaj and later their children often turned the armchair over on its back and played it was as a cradle".
Designer
Björn Trägårdh (1908-1998) was an artist, furniture designer, draftsman, and graphic artist. He worked as a designer at Svenskt Tenn from 1928 to 1936, where he designed furniture, pewter objects, and other art industry products. Trägårdh joined Svenskt Tenn when he was only 20 years old and was influenced by a functionalist design approach. He worked with a restrained color palette, using black, white, and gray as his main colors. Additionally, he and Estrid Ericson were exhibition organizers for several notable exhibitions. After Josef Frank joined Svenskt Tenn, Trägårdh moved to Paris in 1939, where he worked as a visual artist. During and after the war, he returned to the field of crafts and the fashion industry, creating buttons and brooches for fashion houses such as Dior, Bruyère, and Schiaparelli. Trägårdh's work can be found in the collections of the National Museum in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, the Institut Tessin in Paris, as well as art museums in Tours and Pau, France.
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