The pattern of stylised flowers in straight lines was composed in the mid-1930s and was first block-printed by Elsa Gullberg. Carl Malmsten used the fabric for his interiors, for example at the Swedish Institute in Rome and the Supreme Court in Stockholm. It is currently not in production.

DESIGNED

1930s

MATERIAL

Linen

SIZE

Width: 150 cm

The pattern of stylised flowers in straight lines was composed in the mid-1930s and was first block-printed by Elsa Gullberg. Carl Malmsten used the fabric for his interiors, for example at the Swedish Institute in Rome and the Supreme Court in Stockholm. The pattern was later developed for wallpaper and is today printed as an exclusive edition by Handtryckta tapeter Långholmen.

DESIGNED

1930s

SIZE

Length: 10 m/roll Width: 50cm Repeat: 40 cm

PRODUCER

Caryngo was the result of a collaboration between Carl Malmsten and Yngve Ekström, the big names in Swedish design in the 1950s. The drawing was done by Carl, who initially called the chair Modell Yngve. The original drawing, however, bear notes saying that Yngve Ekström should decide the details. In this way the neat and comfortable chair was given two consignors, with the production being handled by Ýngve Ekström’s company Swedese. Further, the name was instantly changed to Caryngo, a combination of the designers’ first names. The shape, with back legs protruding like horns, was quite popular at the time and was used by both Carl Malmsten and Yngve Ekström for other chairs. The Caryngo chair was shown at the Malmsten exhibition Levande svensk tradition (Living Swedish tradition) at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg in 1956. It was relaunched in 2018.

DESIGNED

1955

SIZE

Height: 77 cm Width: 60 cm Depth: 67 cm Seat height: 36 cm

MATERIAL

Frame of FSC-marked oak. Vegetable tanned leather from Tärnsjö, nature or black.

PRODUCER

The pattern with birds and flowers was one Carl Malmsten’s first designs. He made it for the Home Exhibition 1917 at Liljevalchs art museum, which opened the same year. The exhibition was organised by the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design and had a clearly stated social agenda. There was a campaign for simplicity in furnishings and a Swedish style – also when it came to wallpaper patterns. The organisers had estimated that around 8,000 people would come to the exhibition, but during the two months that it was showing no less than 40,000 people turned up. However, the working classes, which they had hoped to attract, were conspicuous by their absence. Instead, the “every day products” shown at the exhibition became a new fashion for the better off. Fågel Blå is also produced as wallpaper, printed with a 100-year-old collagraph machine at Lim & Handtryck.

DESIGNED

1917

MATERIAL

Wool 85%, polyamide 15%.

SIZE

Width: 150 cm Repeat: 50 x 76 cm

The pattern with birds and flowers was one Carl Malmsten’s first designs. He made it for the Home Exhibition 1917 at Liljevalchs art museum, which opened the same year. The exhibition was organised by the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design and had a clearly stated social agenda. There was a campaign for simplicity in furnishings and a Swedish style – also when it came to wallpaper patterns. The organisers had estimated that around 8,000 people would come to the exhibition, but during the two months that it was showing no less than 40,000 people turned up. However, the working classes, which they had hoped to attract, were conspicuous by their absence. Instead, the “every day products” shown at the exhibition became a new fashion for the better off.
The wallpaper was originally made at Kåbergs wallpaper factory. Today, it is printed with a 100-year-old collagraph machine at Lim & Handtryck.

DESIGNED

1917

MATERIAL

Paper

SIZE

Length: 10 m/roll Width: 50 cm Repeat: 20 cm

PRODUCER

In the mid-1950s, Carl Malmsten awarded ten small furniture companies, mainly in Småland, the honour of making series of some of his products. Among the first pieces was Farmor, which soon became the most popular armchair. It has a high back and maximum sitting comfort, and is also neat and easily placed. Carl Malmsten wanted his furniture to express a particular feeling or mood, and this was reflected in the names he gave them. Farmor (Grandmother) was one of the armchairs in a series with names of members of the family, such as Farfar (Grandfather), Husmor (Housekeeper) and Lilla Syster (Little Sister).

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 100 cm Width: 72 cm Depth: 83 cm Seat height: 41 cm Seat depth: 52 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

Simple, solid, and with a small indentation in the back, making it easy to lift. Carl Malmsten once answered the question of how a chair is made: “A chair always succeeds another chair; they grow out of each other”. In Malmsten’s case, the chairs had their roots both in the rich soil of Swedish furniture tradition and in his own luxuriant garden. In Malmsten’s words, a chair could be described as: “safe, lush and summer-friendly…”

DESIGNED

1951

SIZE

Height: 77 cm Width: 41 cm Depth: 39 cm Seat height: 45 cm Seat depth: 36 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch, leather seat optional.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Soap, hardwax oil, egg oil tempera or clear varnish.

PRODUCER

The slim, elegant desk with slightly flared legs was shown at the large home and interiors fair Bo Bättre at Guldheden in Gothenburg, in autumn 1945. The model was produced in collaboration with Nordiska Kompaniet and was created by Malmsten, together with an elegant armchair and a whole a range of furniture with the same expression, for the interior design of a four bedroom flat “intended for a family with two boys of school age and a newborn baby”.

DESIGNED

1945/1966

SIZE

Height: 75 cm Width: 60 cm Length: 120 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch/birch veneer.

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil, or hand painted/egg oil tempera.

OTHER

3 lockable drawers. Leather desk pad available as option.

PRODUCER

Carl Malmsten composed a bed, desk, desk chair, serving table and storage piece for the home and interiors fair at Guldheden in Gothenburg. Much later, a new series was created based on these pieces and named after the 1945 trade fair, the same year that Carl Malmsten was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal. The headboard with an elegant pattern of laths comes in several shapes and sizes, either as a separate headboard or a complete bed frame with bed end.

DESIGNED

1945/1966

STORLEK

Width: 90, 120, 160 or 180 cm Length: 200 cm.

MATERIAL

Birch, cherry, oak or smoked oak.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Natural or white oil, white soap, varnish or stain.

PRODUCER

Many of Malmsten’s designs originated in the late 19th century upholstered furniture for the bourgeoisie. He was inspired without copying; his ability to make use of tradition without getting stuck in old ideals was unwaivering. Hemmakväll was the first item of furniture in a series for the family and was first shown in 1956 when the so called Key Workshops demonstrated their skills at the exhibition Living Swedish Tradition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Width: 75 cm Height: 85 cm Depth: 76 cm Seat height: 43 cm Seat depth: 50 cm

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. The armchair is available with a fixed seat or loose cushion. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

Hemmakväll was the first item of furniture in a series for the family. It is as base sofa around which the family could gather. It was followed by Farmor, Lillasyster and several other models with familiar names, so typical for Carl Malmsten, and which contribute to the feeling of homeliness that he wanted to create with his furniture. Many of Malmsten’s designs originated in the late 19th century upholstered furniture for the bourgeoisie. He was inspired without copying; his ability to make use of tradition without getting stuck in old ideals was unwaivering.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 83 cm Width: 205 cm Depth: 84 cm Seat height: 43 cm Seat depth: 54 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak. Available with loose cushions or fixed seat.

PRODUCER

Second to the spindle back chair Lilla Åland, Herrgården is probably the most widely distributed piece of Malmsten furniture. The chair was part of a dining room set commissioned and designed in 1948 for the Ulfsparre family manor. Just seven year later, serial production of the chair began, and it was first shown in 1956, when the so called Key Workshops demonstrated their skills at the exhibition Living Swedish Tradition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg. The original model had been slightly altered; on Herrgården, the bar across the back also covers the outermost slats, which was not the case with Ulfsparre. The series includes chair, armchair, table, sideboards and display cabinet.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 85 cm Width: 55 cm Seat height: 45 cm Seat depth: 43 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch, upholstered seat.

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil or egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

Second to the spindle back chair Lilla Åland, Herrgården is probably the most widely distributed piece of Malmsten furniture. The chair was part of a dining room set commissioned and designed in 1948 for the Ulfsparre family manor. Just seven year later, serial production of the chair began, and it was first shown in 1956, when the so called Key Workshops demonstrated their skills at the exhibition Living Swedish Tradition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg. The original model had been slightly altered; on Herrgården, the bar across the back also covers the outermost slats, which was not the case with Ulfsparre. The series includes chair, armchair, table, sideboards and display cabinet.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 85 cm Width: 43 cm Depth: 44 cm Seat height: 45 cm Seat depth: 43 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch, upholstered seat.

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil or egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

The dining room suite Herrgården was presented at the exhibition Living Swedish Tradition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg, in 1956. The model originates from furniture designed by Carl Malmsten for the Ulfsparre family manor a few years earlier. The series includes chair, armchair, table, sideboards and display cabinet.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 74 cm Width: 100 cm Length: 149 cm, 2 or 3 extension leaves of 55 cm each.

MATERIAL

Solid birch/birch veneer.

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil or egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

The dining room suite Herrgården was presented at the exhibition Living Swedish Tradition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg, in 1956. The model originates from furniture designed by Carl Malmsten for the Ulfsparre family manor a few years earlier. The series includes chair, armchair, table, sideboards and display cabinet. The two last mentioned pieces have doors with decorative ribbing.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 185 cm Width: 100 cm Depth: 39 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch and blockboard with birch veneer. Glass shelves and lighting included as standard in top cabinet. 3 wooden shelves in bottom cupboard.

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil or egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

The dining room suite Herrgården was presented at the exhibition Living Swedish Tradition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg, in 1956. The model originates from furniture designed by Carl Malmsten for the Ulfsparre family manor a few years earlier. The series includes chair, armchair, table, sideboard and display cabinet. The two last mentioned pieces have doors with decorative ribbing.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 96 cm Width: 100/150 cm Depth 39 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch and blockboard with birch veneer.

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil or egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

A solid, cosy armchair, comfortably reclined, with pleasing rounded forms, generous format and soft upholstered seat. The armchair was presented at the Liljevalchs exhibition in 1934, where Carl Malmsten participated together with the textile artists Märta Måås-Fjetterström and Elsa Gullberg, the furniture designer David Blomberg, and Estrid Ericson from Svenskt Tenn. Carl Malmsten always wanted to express something with his furniture; a feeling or a quality. This often finds expression in the furniture’s names. Jättepaddan (Giant Toad) is a striking and humourous example of this.

DESIGNED

1934

SIZE

Height: 96 cm Width: 88 cm Depth: 98 cm Seat height: 44 cm Seat depth: 55 cm.
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat has a double-spring interior with a combination of nozag and spiral springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Reversible cushion filled with a mixture of seabird feathers and synthetic down. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

The simple Shaker-style display cabinet from the mid-1950s is one of the many finds from the rich Malmsten archives. It was designed for the Jönköping County Museum for the display of objects. Eyvind Beckman from Gothenburg was the interior designer and the leg stand is reminiscent of works by him. However, the vitrines were delivered from Carl Malmsten and it is likely that the two worked together on the design. More than 60 years later, it was put into production for the first time – now as a piece of furniture for beautiful and valued items in the home.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 168 cm Width: 100 cm Depth: 42 cm

MATERIAL

Birch

SURFACE TREATMENT

Hardwax oil

PRODUCER

Artisanally crafted to order by Martin Altwegg.

A Malmsten chair, designed not by Carl Malmsten but by his son, the interior architect Vidar Malmsten. The rich Malmsten archive contains many of Vidar’s sketches. His design idiom is regarded as vigourous, a little gnarly and more foreceful compared to his father’s. This stackable model was designed for the parish hall at Sundbyberg Church and production resumed in 2013. Another of Carls Malmsten’s sons, Egil Malmsten, has described his brother as “genial and able to work in total chaos, producing the most wondrous objects”. Tragically, Vidar Malmsten died prematurely.

DESIGNED

1959

SIZE

Height: 78 cm Width: 48 cm Depth: 78 cm Seat height: 45 cm Seat depth: 41 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch and oak, seat in leather, seaweed or string. Loose leather cushion optional.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Soap, oil, white, natural, smoked oak, egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

Over the years, Carl Malmsten made quite a few wallpaper designs. Colourful sketches of this design are found in CM’s archive. Malmsten called this pattern Korsblomma and it was available both as wallpaper and fabric. Korsblomma, also called Passion flower, was nominated “Plant of the Month” by the magazine Husmodern’s flower club in 1941. Was it this that inspired Carl Malmsten’s design, or was the pattern just a play on words (cross flower)? Anyhow, the exotic plant was popular in functionalist environments, and the rounded corners of the pattern is an example of a design language that Malmsten came to develop and strongly advocate: “Break all edges thoroughly”. He simply believed that furniture and forms with rounded corners are kinder to the touch and to the eye.

The patterns Tussilago, Fågel blå and Korsblomma are printed by Lim & Handtryck’s Färg & Tapetmakeri using the same handicraft skills and types of material as when they were first printed in 1917 and in the 1940s (roller printing on paper with distemper shaded with iron oxides and earth pigment). The wallpapers are wipeable.

MATERIAL

Paper

SIZE

Length: 10 m/roll Width: 50 cm Repeat: 25 cm

PRODUCER

In the 1940s, the spindle back chair moved into the living room. Carl Malmsten found inspiration for his version during a visit to a church in Åland. In the book Levande svensk tradition (Living Swedish Tradition) he wrote: “In Åland, where I was teaching a course in woodcrafting in 1939, I encountered in the vestry of the Finström medieval church some high-backed spindle chairs, which completely beguiled me. The curved verve of the seat and the caressing, backside-friendly recess, as well as the staged ascent of the legs and 8 spindles bore witness to a masterly feeling for construction and rhythmical expression. Chair Åland is its downsized, for contemporary homes and machine production, pure descendant.”

The pupil Sven Erik Fryklund measured the archetype, and the final product was developed at the factory in consultation with the wood turner. Production started in 1942. There was also a Stora Åland, but this stayed on the drawing board.

DESIGNED

1942

SIZE

Height: 88 cm Width: 44 cm Depth: 57 cm Seat height: 44 cm Seat depth: 44 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch or oak. Black leather seat or seat cushion optional.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Clear varnish, light matt varnish, oil or paint.

OTHER

Also available as armchair, children’s chair low or high.

PRODUCER

The armchair version of Lilla Åland was also presented in 1942. It is several centimeters wider across the seat which, together with the armrests, considerably increases the comfort. Carl Malmsten also designed a rocking chair with principally the same components and measurements as the armchair. The colour of furniture was important for Carl Malmsten and a sky-blue Lilla Åland was featured in many adverts in the 1950s. The wood was pale yellow birch, lightly warm-stained pine or oak. Today, the options are oil, varnish, lacquer and ten different colours – including a pale blue.

DESIGNED

1942

SIZE

Height: 88 cm Width: 55 cm Depth: 57 cm Seat height: 44 cm Seat depth: 42 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch or oak. Black leather seat or seat cushion optional.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Clear varnish, light matt varnish, oil or paint.

OTHER

Also available without armrests and as children’s chair low or high.

PRODUCER

A soft curved back, a rolling line that turns into a friendly embrace. The welcoming and intimate sofa was commissioned by the Kockum director Gösta Lundeqvist. In character and form, the design is reminiscent of Carl Malmsten’s snuggle-up armchair “Redet” from 1936. This was created “for a young and fair wife to nestle in”. The sofa – which is now in production for the first time – also invites you to lounge.

DESIGNED

1949

SIZE

Height: 88 cm Length: 200 cm Depth: 75 cm Seat height: 39 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is of solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

When Dag Hammarskjöld was Secretary-General of the United Nations, he created “a room of quiet” in the UN building in New York, where people could withdraw in silence. He ordered a fresco by Bo Beskow for the back wall and, apart from a large ironstone rock, the only pieces of furniture were eight stools designed by Carl Malmsten. The stools are still there.

In connection with the Carl Malmsten exhibition at the Waldemarsudde museum in 2013, a numbered edition of 125 stools were produced. It celebrated the 125th anniversary of the designer’s birth, explaining the total amount of stools.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 41 cm Width: 65 cm Depth: 41 cm

MATERIAL

Solid oak, seat in braided seaweed.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Hardwax oil

PRODUCER

In 1937, Carl Malmsten designed a sofa for the Swedish diplomatic mission in Berlin. He named the sofa Berlin. Twenty years later, he modified the model slightly and called it Nya Berlin (New Berlin). In the following years, only a few copies were made. In 2008, the strict sofa with clean lines was chosen by Jonny Johansson at Acne and was made exclusively for the fashion brand’s flagship stores around the world. Since 2010, the elegant sofa is in production.

DESIGNED

1958

SIZE

Height: 75 cm Width: 140 cm Depth: 80 cm Seat height: 41 cm Seat depth: 54 cm.
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up ith nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

The Oskar easy chair was designed in 1939, the same year that Carl Malmsten participated in the New York World Fair. It was here that the expression Swedish Modern was launched, but Malmsten – who was awarded the title Master of Wood by the Christian Science Monitor – was a traditionalist mainly concerned with comfort in the home. As with so many of his pieces of furniture, it was modelled on an earlier design – his own or from previous generations. The Oskar armchair may reflect the furnishings that he created for the living room at Ulriksdal Palace, which was given to the royal couple Gustaf Adolf and Louise by the Swedish people in 1923.

DESIGNED

1939

SIZE

Height: 105 cm Width: 69 cm Depth: 83 cm Seat height: 43 cm Seat depth: 51 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat has a double-spring interior with a combination of nozag and spiral springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid pine.

PRODUCER

Visingsö, Hadar, Rusthållaren, Capella… Carl Malmsten designed a number of stools, sturdy and solid in birch or pine, and always with a fine recess in the seat. Kind to the back and pleasing to the eye. The Putte stool is a small, but older relative of the larger stools – with fine details, such as the stylish tapering of the legs where they fix into the seat. A hole for the hand makes it easier to lift. The stool was designed for an exhibition at Ostermans Marmorhallar in Stockholm. Today, it is made from offcuts by the furniture manufacturer Tre Sekel in Tibro. The result is different types of wood for different stools.

DESIGNED

1941

SIZE

Height low stool: 17 cm Height high stool: 26 cm Width: 24 cm Length: 35 cm

MATERIAL

Birch, pine, ash or oak.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Hardwax or soap.

PRODUCER

Runda Samsas is a model from the Samsas series, and was originally designed for a postmaster in Bromma to fit under the bay window in his new house. The basic Samsas model from 1960 is, in turn, a further developed version of the easy chair Konsert, which Carl Malmsten designed for the Stockholm Concert Hall in 1923. Konsert was put into production – slightly modified – in the 1930s. The approach was typical for Carl Malmsten: Lovingly, he turned and twisted his favourite designs. As the interior designer Lena Larsson, herself a pupil of Malmsten, wrote: “In fact, Carl Malmsten designed the same piece of furniture throughout his life. Especially his upholstered item for sitting. This was refined, simplified, worked in different types of wood, with different finishes. But it stood firmly on its legs: a timeless Malmsten. He believed in the principle of slow ripening.”

DESIGNED

1966

SIZE

Height: 89 cm Length: 200 cm Depth: 103 cm Seat height: 42 cm Seat depth: 49 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

During the 1930s, the Swedish Institute in Rome was to be furnished with the best of Swedish design. Some of the country’s leading architects and designers were commissioned to represent Sweden. Ivar Tengbom designed the impressive building, especially adapted for the plot of land the Swedish State received from Italy as a gift. Elsa Gullberg created the textiles, Märta Måås-Fjetterström the carpets, and Carl Malmsten was commissioned to design the furniture. One of these was the curvy Rundrygg (Round Back) with a softly rounded back and comfortable seat. After a few decades of hibernation, it was put into production again in 1992; an excellent illustration of the timelessness of Carl Malmsten’s designs.

DESIGNED

1939

SIZE

Height: 99 cm Width: 85 cm Depth: 97 cm Seat height: 42 cm Seat depth: 54 cm.
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

Samsas is today regarded as the most typical item of Malmsten furniture. In his work, Carl Malmsten often returned to his earlier designs, which he renewed and simplified. Samsas is such a product, which when it was designed in 1960 had its roots in a model that was almost 40 years old. The original was an easy chair designed for the Stockholm Concert Hall in 1923.

Leó Jóhannsson, long-time senior lecturer in furniture design at Malmstens, has described the armchair: “Samsas has everything required in an easy chair: Expression, comfort, whole big form, fine lines and details – and the feeling of music”.

DESIGNED

1960

SIZE

Height: 82 cm Width: 70 cm Depth: 81 cm Seat height: 42 cm Seat depth: 51 cm.
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

The neat sofa was a specialty to which Carl Malmsten returned several times. When a model was appreciated, requests came for different widths, and today there is a range of sofas in different sizes to choose from. The sofa Samsas was designed the same years as the easy chair, in 1960 and, as always, the designer’s big sources of inspiration can be sensed: Swedish nature and culture. He gave his pieces of furniture names that arouse associations – such as Samsas (getting on well together).

DESIGNED

1960

SIZE

Height: 85 cm Lenght: 155/180 cm Depth: 79 cm Seat height: 42 cm Seat depth: 49 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat is built up with nozag springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

The sofa Samspel was composed by Carl Malmsten in 1956 and was then produced by the furniture makers Record in Bollnäs. In the same year, the museum curator and cultural profile Erik Wettergren wrote that the strength in Malmsten’s work is about “the deep roots in Swedish tradition and human sense of comfort”. A statement that is still true today, more than 60 year later. After many years of hibernation, O.H. Sjögren resumed production of the sofa in 2016.

DESIGNED

1956

SIZE

Height: 82 cm Length: 155 cm Depth: 80 cm Seat height: 40 cm Seat depth: 52 cm
Legs can be extended by up to 5 cm.

MATERIAL

The frame is in solid pine. The seat has a double-spring interior with a combination of nozag and spiral springs. The padding consists of cold foam, polyether and fiberfill. Reversible cushion filled with a mixture of seabird feathers and synthetic down. Legs in solid oak.

PRODUCER

Släden belongs to Carl Malmsten’s most pleasing and neat items; a graceful and very useful nest table with two pull-out tables that glide easily on slightly curved runners, hence the name Släden (Sledge). In 1947, Malmsten worked together with some of the best woodworkers in Sweden before the table nest took shape. This item represents the height of Swedish furniture design. 
On many of Carl Malmsten’s designs it says: “Break all edges thoroughly”. This clearly summarises the designer’s vision that furniture should be kind to the eye and to the touch.

DESIGNED

1948

SIZE

Height: 57 cm Width: 41 cm Length: 70 cm
Small tables: Height: 53 cm Width: 37 cm Length: 34 cm

MATERIAL

Oak, birch or smoked oak

SURFACE TREATMENT

Natural or white oil, soap or varnish.

PRODUCER

Stadshusstolen (City Hall Chair) was the starting signal for Carl Malmsten’s career as a furniture designer. He was 28 years old when he won the competition announced by Ragnar Östberg and the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design for simple office furniture protoypes for the City Hall. You can understand the surprise of the jury when they realised that both first and second prize had been awarded to a hitherto completely unknown designer. The same year, Malmsten opened his own workshop on Tunnelgatan in Stockholm. When Carl Malmsten much later commented on his prize winning furniture, he wrote, tounge-in-cheek: “The chairs suit every decisive, orderly – however, not inflexible, bureaucratic – earthly rooted person.”
Oddly enough, Stadshusstolen never found a place in the building. Today, the chair with its graceful and prominent Art Nouveau character, is made to order by Carl Malmsten Ab.

DESIGNED

1916

SIZE

Height: 85 cm Width: 63 cm Depth: 58 cm Seat height: 47 cm Seat depth: 45 cm

MATERIAL

Solid oak, seat in braided rattan. Down-filled leather cushion optional.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Soap or smoked oak.

PRODUCER

Carl Malmsten Ab

The pattern with softly winding plants was composed together with e.g. Tussilago and Fågel Blå by Carl Malmsten for the Home Exhibition 1917 at Liljevalchs art museum. The exhibition was organised by the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design and had a clearly stated social agenda. There was a campaign for simplicity in furnishings and a Swedish style – also when it came to wallpaper patterns. The wallpaper was originally made at Kåbergs wallpaper factory. Today, it is produced by Handtryckta tapeter Långholmen.

DESIGNED

1917

SIZE

Length: 10 m/roll Width: 47 cm

MATERIAL

Paper

PRODUCER

The pattern Tussilago was first printed for the Home Exhibition at Liljevalchs art gallery in 1917. Carl Malmsten had been invited to design several rooms with furniture, lighting, wallpaper, etc. The aim of the exhibition was to create “more beautiful things for everyday use”. All of Malmsten’s wallpaper designs made for the exhibition (Tussilago, Fågel Blå and Storslingan) are seemingly inspired by 18th century cotton print patterns and were printed in light pastel colours. An amusing anecdote is that Carl Malmsten during an interview, revealed that his copy of Carl Larsson’s book “Ett Hem” was completely worn out. In the book, Carl Larsson writes tenderly about dandelions, and what could be more suitable for an admirer like Malmsten to name one of his patterns after the slightly smaller and humbler Tussilago (Colt’s foot).

The patterns Tussilago, Fågel Blå and Korsblomma are printed by Lim & Handtryck’s Färg & Tapetmakeri using the same handicraft skills and types of material as when they were first printed in 1917 and in the 1940s (roller printing on paper with distemper shaded with iron oxides and earth pigment). The wallpapers are wipeable.

DESIGNED

1917

MATERIAL

Paper

SIZE

Length: 10m/roll Width: 48 cm Repeat: 48 cm

PRODUCER

To create a complete set for the dining room, the Vardags (Everyday life) chair was supplemented with this neat armchair. And just like the other members of the Vardags family, this is a chair with many details which require craftsmanship and feeling in the manufacture. Each slat, for example, has its unique profile and form, and the back legs are angled in two places, which give the chair its light and well-worked character.

DESIGNED

1943

SIZE

Height: 86 cm Width: 55 cm Depth: 53 cm Seat height: 46 cm Seat depth: 41 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch, upholstered seat with fixed or removable cover.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Clear varnish, light matt varnish, oil or paint.

PRODUCER

With its seven slats in the back, Vardags is a version of the classic rustic chair from Dalarna, the so called Leksand chair. Here, Malmsten combines allmoge (folk art) with Gustavian tradition. You can also see how Carl Malmsten carried on the Carl Larsson heritage in this simple every-day piece of furniture, which must withstand a family’s wear and tear.

Vardags was launched at the exhibition Kontakt med Nyttokonstnären (Meet the Utility Artist) at Nationalmuseum in 1944. “…something of the soundest, healthiest and most beautiful that could be created within Swedish furniture and interior design”, according to the magazine Form. Two years later, it was put into production.

DESIGNED

1943

SIZE

Height: 86 cm Width: 47 cm Depth: 53 cm Seat height: 46 cm Seat depth: 41 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch, upholstered seat with fixed or removable cover.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Clear varnish, light matt varnish, oil or paint.

PRODUCER

A well-made and practical table, possible to grow to a length of 360 cm, room for the big family as well as friends. The connection between the edge and leg is solid and the leg has a decorative milling. Vardags was presented at the exhibition Kontakt med Nyttokonstnären (Meet the Utility Artist) at Nationalmuseum in 1944. In the design-publication Form it was written: “…among the soundest, freshest and most beautiful Swedish design can produce”. Two years later it was put in production.

DESIGNED

1943

SIZE

Length: 160–360 cm Width: 100 cm Height: 75 cm

MATERIAL

Solid birch

SURFACE TREATMENT

White varnish, birch clear varnish, hardwax oil or egg oil tempera.

PRODUCER

Visingsö by Carl Malmsten has an eternal and contemporary tone with links to both Swedish allmoge and American Shaker. The table is one among Malmsten’s vast volume of furniture. His archive contains more than 20,000 furniture sketches, drawn in pencil to a scale of 1:10, and more than 12,000 meticulous full scale working drawings. No other Swedish furniture designer has left behind such an impressive diversity. In its time, the Visingsö family also included a sofa, armchair, bookshelf, and stools.

DESIGNED

1953

SIZE

Height: 74 cm Length: 200 cm Width: 84 cm. The table can be outfitted with 2 extension leaves of 50 cm each.

MATERIAL

Solid birch or oak.

SURFACE TREATMENT

Hardwax oil, clear varnish, soap or egg oil tempera in choice of colours.

PRODUCER