Carl-Johan Boman

Carl-Johan Boman, a late 1930s chest of drawer for Oy Boman Ab.

Pyramidal mahogany veneer. Curved front. Four drawers. With manufacturer's label. Length 85 cm. Depth 45 cm. Height 78 cm.

Carl Johan Boman (1883-1969) was one of Finland’s earliest noted interior designers. His furniture designs won prizes at several international exhibitions of industrial art. The drawer now offered for sale represents the latest fashion of its day, with a radically innovative functionalism that became the style for a new product range under the direction of C-J Boman at the Boman furniture factory, as historicist conservative furniture gave way to new, clean-cut furnishings combining form and function.

N. Bomans Ångsnickeri and Oy Boman Ab

C-J Boman studied interior and furniture design at the Institute of Industrial Arts attached to the Royal Arts and Crafts Museum in Berlin (Königliche Kunstgewerbemuseum), where his notable teachers included the Swedish Alfred Grenander. After graduating as an interior designer in 1906, he was appointed Director of the drawing office at N. Bomans Ångsnickeri and Artistic Director of the factory, which at that time was the largest furniture factory in Finland and also the country’s leading manufacturer of high-quality furnishings. The factory was established by C-J Boman’s father Nikolai Boman in 1871 and renamed Oy Boman Ab in 1937. C-J directed the drawing office until he was appointed Managing Director of the factory in 1919. He continued to serve in this capacity until 1955 when the factory was sold to Wärtsilä. Oy Boman Ab finally closed down in 1967. Key included.

Partly worn. Veneer damages. Scratches. Marks. The key hole cover is missing.