scandinavian design

Scandinavian design

Scandinavian design is also referred to as Swedish modern and Danish modern. The name of this style is of a stylistic change that evolved through modernism in the 1930s. It is represented by blonde wood furniture with a definitive emphasis on line, shape and form. Objects often have bursts of colour, and some of them have fewer. Scandinavian design continues till this day as a very effective design for homes, both in Scandinavia and around the world.

Alvar Aalto - Arm Chair 406

Swedish modern

By 1900, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, each had refined their own style of art nouveau, and utilized for their traditional crafts areas of ceramics, glass, furniture, and textiles, which were all very popular in Scandinavia at that time. However it was Sweden, which created its own design style in the twentieth century.  An exhibithion which was held in Stockholm in 1930. There were a lot of architects that seemed to be distracted by harsher and more functional esthetic which were developed in Germany in the last years. Meanwhile the furniture designers were not easily distracted. They were commited to use natural materials like wood and leather. Bruno Mathsson, G. A. Berg, and Josef had started to rearrange the values, traditions and imagery linked with Swedish design.

Ant Chair - Arne Jacobsen

Danish modern
This nmovement had emerged a bit later in time. Danish modern was popular and visible in the world by the 1950s. This new Danish style had developed by means of Arne JAcobsen, Poul Kjaerholm and Verner Panton. They've created a sens of respect for natural materials , especially beech, brich and teak. At the same time they had created an interest in revived chair types, example, deck chairs, stick black chair and safari chair, which influenced the mass production of furniture produced at that time.

PK20 Chair - Poul Kjaerholm

Mogensen designed the African inspired chairs. They were made oyt of wood and leather. His younger colleague, Finn Juhl, desiugned expressive sculptured chairs designs during 1940s and 1950s. The aspects of the primitivism bacame a major characteristic of the Danish furniture design in the 1950s. The simple elegance of metal work by George Jensen was first seen at the turn of the century and was later continued with the work of Henning Koppel. One of the most amazing features of the Danish design at that time was the ability to make timeless products that looked fresh even in 50 years time.

Finnish modern

Finland didn't took stand as a leading movement in the world of contemporary design, until the 1951 and 1954's Milan Triennales. This happened thanks to the exclusive glass designs which were exhibited by Iittala. Iittala had held a competition in the 1950s which was won by Timo Sarpaneva ans Tapio Wirkkala, which they had never worked with glass before, but earned international reputations for the expressive, sculptural approach.

Glass dish - Tapio Wirkkala

Finnish approach to design was less committed to the traditional crafts fundamentals,unlike that of its neighbors, focusing more on world of contemporary design. However theplywood bent furniture which was designed by Alvar Aalto  shows craftsmanship. They were being produced even after the was as classic modern design pieces.

References

Bhaskaran, L. (2005). Designs of the times. Mies: RotoVision.

Kjaerholm :: Famous Furniture (EU) . 2015.Kjaerholm :: Famous Furniture (EU) . [ONLINE] Available at:http://famousfurniture.eu/home.php?cat=16. [Accessed 31 January 2015].

Trio of Arne Jacobsen Ant Chairs at 1stdibs. 2015. Trio of Arne Jacobsen Ant Chairs at 1stdibs. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/seating/chairs/trio-arne-jacobsen-ant-chairs/id-f_786934/. [Accessed 31 January 2015].

Alvar Aalto Armchair 406. 2015. Alvar Aalto Armchair 406. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bonluxat.com/a/Alvar_Aalto_Armchair_406.html. [Accessed 31 January 2015].

Iittala Tapio Wirkkala glass dish - a photo on Flickriver. 2015. Iittala Tapio Wirkkala glass dish - a photo on Flickriver. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.flickriver.com/photos/art-of-glass/3406811684/. [Accessed 31 January 2015].