1950s Lounge Chair By Carl Malmsten

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About the Item

1950s lounge chair designed by renowned Swedish designer Carl Malmsten. Beautiful organic design. Beech legs. Vintage upholstery.
Produced by AB RecordCreator: Carl Malmsten (Designer)Dimensions: Height: 32.5 in (82.55 cm)Width: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)Depth: 31 in (78.74 cm)Seat Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Style: Scandinavian Modern (Of the Period)Materials and Techniques: BeechPlace of Origin: SwedenPeriod: Mid-20th CenturyDate of Manufacture: 1950’sCondition: GoodWear consistent with age and use. Overall very good condition. Vintage upholstery shows some signs of age but very usable. Legs will have minor scratches and marks.2.Seller Location: Turners Falls, MAReference Number: 1stDibs: LU7991240618782Shop All Carl Malmsten

Carl Malmsten

Carl Malmsten, a prominent furniture designer and educator associated with Swedish modernism, enjoyed immense popularity for his shapely sofas and armchairs in luscious color palettes. Malmsten believed that light much like our eyes and bodies doesnt like to bump into sharp objects. Smooth edges, on the other hand, are kinder to the eye and and to our touch, and allow light to softly bounce off surfaces. Malmsten felt that if his furniture didnt serve well in the home, it had no business being there.

Malmstens career essentially began in 1915, when his submissions for a competition to furnish the new Stockholm City Hall were first- and second-place prize winners. In the 1920s, his profile soared. He won a prize at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts the show that brought the Art Deco style to worldwide attention and quickly became one of the most sought-after designers of commercial seating in Sweden.

Malmsten was soon contracted to design chairs, tables and other furniture for the Stockholm Concert Hall, the Swedish Institute in Rome and the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. His famous Art Nouveau-influenced Stadshusstolen chair, designed for Stockholm City Hall in 1916, is a highlight of the citys recently opened Museum of Furniture Studies. Malmsten expanded into interior design and created a luxurious, well-appointed living room in the palace of then-Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and his bride, Crown Princess Louise.

In the 1930s, Malmsten clashed with critics when he voiced his opposition to functionalism. Like Danish modernist Kaare Klint, he favored using quality local materials and prized traditional craftsmanship. Malmstens furniture draws on graceful neoclassical influences, and he said that extreme functionalism contributed to sterile interiors while the curving contours of his work may share ground with furniture designed by Alvar Aalto or Bruno Mathsson, Malmsten differed with Bauhaus eminences and some Scandinavian modernists on their prioritization of functionalism.

For an exhibition in 1956 at the Rhsska Museum in Gothenburg, Malmsten designed furniture that was intended for mass production and his striking designs began to make their way into middle-class Swedish homes owing to Malmstens partnerships with manufacturers such as O.H. Sjgren. Until then, he had built his pieces at the school he founded in the 1930s or had them made by artisans at several small local workshops.

Malmsten founded a number of schools for design and collaborated with other designers who shared his philosophy of hand and mind in creative collaboration. These included the esteemed textile artist Mrta Ms Fjetterstrm, whose pieces he included in exhibits and even his own home.

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