Hans-Agne Jakobsson

Pictured in catalogue 1960.

Hans-Agne Jakobsson was a Swedish interior architect and furniture designer, born in Havdhem on Gotland in 1919. He is primarily renowned for his elegant and modern lamp designs for his own company, Hans-Agne Jakobsson AB, Markaryd, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Jakobsson passed his journeyman's test as a cabinetmaker as an 18 yrs old and took later an architecture degree in Gothenburg. He worked as an industrial designer at General Motors and assisted Carl Malmsten and Werner West. In 1951, Jakobsson moved to Småland, where he founded his own lighting company, Hans-Agne Jakobsson AB. The company earned a well-spread recognition when it relocated to new premises in central Markaryd in 1956.
Brass lamps became something of the company's signature models, alongside the iconic chipboard lamps, manufactured by the subsidiary Ellysett from 1957 onwards. The company supplied both individuals and public spaces like churches, often involving chandeliers customized in various sizes. The glass shades were blown by Småland glassworks. The chandeliers were exported and sold throughout the Nordic region, Germany, Saudi Arabia, France, and Canada.
Hans-Agne Jakobsson's fixtures often feature a generous diffusion of light, frequently calming and subdued, where each component is meticulously crafted. In a feature from 1953, Hans-Agne Jakobsson himself described that he "believes that all parts of the fixture should garner interest from the designer". The shade's soft diffusion of light, the cord's strain relief, and the design of the ceiling cup were all crucial details in what would become Jakobsson's unique lighting philosophy.