Furniture designer Åke Axelsson

Posted by Tiffany on August 19th, 2009 1 Comment »

Yesterday I had quite an unexpected thrill. I ran into legendary Swedish furniture maker and interior architect Åke Axelsson at Svensk Form in Stockholm.

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In this photo Åke Axelsson makes a prototype for a new chair in his workshop in Vaxholm. photo: Chris Anderson

Axelsson has designed many different kinds of furniture, but enjoys making chairs the most. He’s designed over 200 different versions! Here are some of my favorites.

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The Anselm chair was originally designed for Malmö Art Museum and pays homage to architect Klas Anselm. It is also used in the auditorium at The Naval Museum in Karlskrona which Axelsson also designed. photo: Gärsnäs

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Bella chair and stool, 2000. photo: Lennart Durehed and Jenny Eklund

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The KB chair, 1994. photo: Chris Andersen

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The SAR chair, the S-233 chair, and the Vaxholmaren chair. The S-233 helped kick off Axelsson’s career in 1964 and has been in production ever since. photo: Chris Anderson, Lennart Durehed, Jenny Eklund

The SAR chair above was made specially for the premises of the National Association of Swedish Architects, but Axelsson says he discovered that they were now being used in Café Nero in Stockholm, bought second hand. That’s close to where I am and I can’t wait to go take a look.

As for why Axelsson happened to be at Svensk Form, he’s designing a new library for their headquarters on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. Considering some of the other commissions he’s had of this sort (below), I’d say they’re in for a treat!

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The Jubilee Room for Swedish King Carl Gustaf XVI in the Royal Palace. ©The Royal Collections, photo: Alexis Daflos

Karlskrona Reading Society Library. photo: Åke E:son Lindman
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The new library, when done, will be an amazing resource for design students, professionals and enthusiasts worldwide. Svensk Form, founded in 1845, is the world’s oldest design organization- and they’ve kept immaculate records of Swedish design and its influences throughout the ages. Contact Svensk Form for information.
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Lots more wonderful images, inspirations, and anecdotes can be found at Åke Axelsson’s website. You’ll find many of his chairs still in production at Gärsnäs, one of Sweden’s oldest and still active furniture makers.