Uno Åhrén
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a Swedish Grace black lacquered "Lady's armchair", Mobilia AB, Malmö ca 1925.
Black lacquered wood, deep-buttoned upholstery in purple velvet. Height 105 cm, width 66.5 cm, seat height 41 cm.
Minor damages and wear, reupholstered.
Provenance
Acquired in Malmö during the 1920s by the current owner's family.
Literature
Erik Wettergren, "L’art Décoratif Moderne en Suède", Malmö Museum 1925, model illustrated p. 165.
Eva Rudberg, "Uno Åhrén - en föregångsman inom 1900-talets arkitektur och samhällsplanering", Byggforskningsrådet 1981, see the interior from the Paris exhibition, p. 42.
The model was designed by Uno Åhrén and exhibited in the 'lady's lounge' in the Swedish pavillion at the International World's Fair in Paris 1925.
Designer
Uno Åhrén was a Swedish architect who graduated from Tekniska Högskolan i Stockholm (the Royal Institute of Technology) in 1919. Uno Åhrén made his debut with a residential interior at the "Home Exhibition" at Liljevalchs in 1917. He was one of the earliest collaborators with Estrid Ericson at the Svenskt Tenn. Åhrén participated in the Paris World Fair in 1925 with a ladies' salon.
Åhrén, who would become one of the main advocates of functionalism, he only worked as a furniture designer at the beginning of his career. The late 1920s in Sweden were marked by Åhrén's radical thoughts and ideas; he was one of the most eager proponents of functionalism, including as a co-author of the publication "acceptera".
Åhrén's focus was primarily on the social perspective in housing issues. From the late 1910s onwards, Uno Åhrén participated in a number of industrial art exhibitions: in addition to the mentioned Home Exhibition in 1917, the Gothenburg Exhibition in 1923, the Paris World Fair in 1925, the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930, and the World Fair in Chicago in 1933. After 1930, Åhrén devoted himself mainly to urban architecture and city planning, including as a city planning architect in Gothenburg from 1932-43 and as the head of Svenska Riksbyggen during the 1940s. He is most renowned for his strong pathos as a driving debater in the social housing issue. For Svenskt Tenn, he designed both furniture and pewter objects of a more luxurious nature.