CARL MALMSTEN

The day the 28-year old Carl Malmsten (1888-1972) won the first and second prize in a competition to furnish the newly constructed Stockholm City Hall, changed his life. The establishment dropout who had become a carpenter finally receive the recognition he had craved for, for his work as a designer, reformer and educator.

The design of the two chairs Malmsten submitted for the competition still looks as modern as ever even though the chairs exude a feeling of Swedish tradition and history.

Malmstens prototypes were often taken from the rural "rococo" and the manorial culture of 18th century Sweden. According to Carl Malmsten design should be spontaneous and bear in mind both the form and structure of the material as well as the feelings and mood of the designer. Add to this Malmsten's knowledge of, and above all, special feeling for Swedish tradition, and you have furniture that is well-made, classical and very "Swedish".

Malmsten's "golden age" came in the 40s and 50s. Many of his classic models are still manufactured at the traditional "Nyckelverkstäderna" manufacturers that Malmsten himself selected. People in the know have no objection to paying the high prices for Malmsten furniture because of the high quality and also because they know that they are acquiring a future antique.
The Olofsskolan (started 1927) and Capellagården school (started in 1960) that Carl Malmsten founded have hatched most of Sweden's world-renowned furniture designers, all of whom generally regard him to be the father of Swedish furniture design. Malmsten was a poet and a prophet who fiercely opposed functionalism and any trend in favour of a furniture craft rooted in the Swedish countryside and his own tradition.