New materials - new shapes. A collection of furniture from the years around 1970

The shift into the 1970s is perhaps the most eventful time in the Swedish history of furniture. The industry went through a complete change. Units in entirely new materials replaced carpentry produced industrially. The conditions for the designers, factories and stores changed, and the Swedish homes were decorated in a way never seen before.

During a time when a lot of factories were shutting down, many wished to be acknowledged at exhibitions and in-store. The producers, therefore, encouraged their designers to draw ostentatious furniture, so-called exhibition bombs. The result was colourful interiors with seating made of rubber foam, plastic, styrofoam, wooden boards and cement!

This collection is a document that embodies an industry in change. Here you will find new shapes in unusual materials. Especially well-represented is the attempt at producing furniture in different kinds of plastic materials.

Amongst the designers, we find respected names like Bruno Mathsson, Karin Mobring and Sigurd Persson. But we also find more forgotten-about designers like Ingvar Skoog, Lars Stiernström and Åke Nilsson.

Some items to pay close attention to are a pair of rare plastic armchairs and the adjustable height desk with a Marimekko patterned tabletop from Skol-Sundström. More 70s than that it can hardly get!