Bruno Mathsson - Important Nordic Design London Wednesday, November 16, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Monica Boman, et al., Svenska möbler: 1890-1990, Lund, 1991, p. 177

  • Catalogue Essay

    This design was awarded the ‘Grand Prix’ when shown at the ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne’, Paris, 25 May–25 November 1937.

    Renowned for his laminated bentwood, Bruno Mathsson designed furniture to accommodate the human body comfortably by means of a contoured bentwood frame with webbing in cloth or leather, thereby creating a strong link between design and nature. Mathsson apprenticed with his family’s cabinetmaking business, Firma Karl Mathsson in Värnamo. After an inspirational visit to the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930, Mathsson turned towards Modernism and became a leading proponent of that movement in Sweden. The present design, which won a Grand Prix at the 1937 Paris Expo, comprises hemp webbing on a laminated moulded wood frame. Mathsson’s unconventional use of webbing in place of traditional sprung upholstery had its genesis in his ‘Grasshopper’ chair for Värnamo Hospital in 1930.

70

Daybed

1936
Birch-veneered laminated moulded wood, original leather mattress filled with horsehair, hemp webbing.
218 x 60 x 83 cm (85 7/8 x 23 5/8 x 32 5/8 in)
Underside of frame with two manufacturer’s paper labels ‘Bruno/MATHSSON/Möbler’ and the other signed ‘BM 36’ with ‘Bruno/MATHSSON/FIRMA KARL MATHSSON/MADE IN – VÄRNAMO – SWEDEN’.

Estimate
£18,000 - 22,000 

Important Nordic Design

17 November 2011
London