Bruno Mathsson: Six Generations Of Furniture Excellence
Bruno Mathsson was descended from five generations of the production of top-quality wood furniture. Bruno was born in Varnamo, Sweden in 1907, and the love of fine wood-crafting was in his blood. Under his father's tutelage he learned technical furniture-making skills, the textures and capabilities of a variety of woods, and the importance of always striving for excellence.
Mathsson became intrigued with the technical side of furniture design, and started voraciously reading everything he could locate on the subject, from reading museum books to contacting design centers. He educated himself on both the technical issues involved and the design styles themselves, and in the process became focused primarily on functionalism. He eventually received a scholarship for his work on functionalist design.
Feeling that traditional flat board furniture had too many limitations, Mathson decided to try designing chairs with no springs at all and with light upholstery. He wanted the chairs to have clean, elegant lines and to be able to change positions. This was actually so controversial an idea at the time that some of his designs were hidden away until he became a well-known and respected designer.
Mathsson was so anxious about the thing he calls the "mechanics of sitting" that he conducted trials to determine the precise blueprint which was created by a person while reclining, even dropping in the snow to look at the result! By 1937, he had attained a Grand Prix design honor at an Expo in Paris. At that time, a few of his lost chairs began to be viewed by the public again.
One of his classic designs is the Pernilla chair. It's made in various formats with bentwood, incorporating lamination into the design itself. It can be made with webbing or upholstered. During the war, material shortages forced Mathsson to experiment with alternate fibers like jute and hemp, and thus this design can easily be adapted to other materials. These chairs traditionally include an attached pillow.
Another of Mathsson's famous designs is the Fällbord table, which was a modular table design allowing folding and reconfiguration in many different layouts. Designed in 1935, it remains to this day a strikingly modern piece of furniture. Its timelessness is similar to many of his other works, which are highly sought after even today.
Another notable table (Mathsson bord) that is still particularly popular is the Mathsson Superellips. It is a huge testament to his work that so many pieces of his furniture (Mathsson möbler) continue to be in such high demand. Mathsson died in 1988 after an illness, leaving a legacy of his family craft taken to an even higher level.
About the Author: Bruno Mathsson was a Swedish designer famous for his furniture designs. Much of his design education was self-administered and over time he learned to branch out from traditional designs and incorporate a more functional feel to contemporary furniture. By studying the mechanics and variations in sitting styles, he was able to design one of his most famous designs, the Pernilla chair. Another of his many timeless pieces of furniture is the modular fällbord table.
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