Axel Einar Hjorth
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a set of 4 stained pine 'Utö' chairs, Nordiska Kompaniet, Sweden 1930s.
Height 80 cm, seat height ca 43 cm.
More information
The rustic pine furniture "Lovö" whose namesakes sit dotted amongst the Stockholm archipelago were designed at Nordiska Kompaniet by the architect Axel Einar Hjorth. Interior designers and buyers worldwide are now queueing up to decorate their homes with his modernistic and refined furniture. During the early 1930s, many Swedish summerhouses were fitted out with Hjorths modernistic and functional pine furniture. He showed his talent as an architect by transitioning from designing furniture in exclusive Swedish Grace-era for a small number of clients to drawing groups of furniture for the growing middle class who with a better economy, had the opportunity to furnish their new summerhouses with the most modern pieces of the time.
Designer
Axel Einar Hjorth is considered one of Sweden's most significant furniture designers during the 1920s and 30s. Hjorth's early employers included Svenska Möbelfabrikerna in Bodafors and the Stockholm Crafts Association. The big breakthrough came as chief architect for Nordiska Kompaniet, a position he took up in 1927 and held until 1938. Hjorth's first major assignment was the Nordiska Kompaniet's lavish stand at the World Exhibition in Barcelona in 1929, to then participate in several major international exhibitions during the following decade. In 1929, Hjorth also breaks new ground and designs the first series of rustic furniture in stained pine, the so-called sports cabin furniture that was named "Lovö", "Utö" and "Sandhamn" after the islands in the Stockholm archipelago.
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