Bruno Mathsson was a famous Swedish furniture designer. Five generations of his family were cabinetmakers, including Bruno’s father. Bruno, who was born in 1907, grew up in Varnamo learning how to make well crafted wood furniture. He developed the skills needed to become a woodworker and furniture designer.
After Mathsson became interested in the technical aspects of making furniture, he began to absorb all the information that he could about furniture making. He borrowed books from designers and museums, and contacted people who would become long-term associates and mentors. He became intrigued by functionalism as a result of his self-education in technical issues and design. He earned a scholarship with a functionalist chair design.
Not content with the limitations of traditional flat board furniture, Mathsson experimented with chairs without the springs and heavy upholstery, some that could be adjusted in position, and all with clean, elegant line. Some were so controversial that they were hidden in storage until he became a famous name.
Mathsson was so concerned with what he referred to as the “mechanics of sitting” that he performed experiments to see what pattern was made by a human being while sitting, even plopping into snow to examine the result! By 1937, he had achieved a Grand Prix design award at the Paris Expo. By then, some of his once hidden chairs were being shown to the world 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.
In 1935 Bruno Mathsson designed the Bruno Mathsson Fällbord table. This became one of his most famous designs for a modular table that can be configured in many different ways which is still as modern today as it was in the 1930s. In fact, there is a timelessness about most of Mathsson’s designs, including his highly-desired Bruno Mathsson Jetson, Miranda, Bruno Mathsson Eva and Pernilla chairs.
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 mobler) 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.
Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988) was a Swedish furniture (mobler) designer who was concerned about the “mechanics of sitting”. After learning a great deal about woodworking from his cabinet making father, he went on to carry out much research into the way people sit and used this in his classic Mathsson Pernilla Chair design. This chair uses bent and laminated wood with various types of materials for upholstery. Another of his creations was the Fällbord table which has several configurations. After winning a design award in 1937, his designs went on to receive widespread popularity even into the 21st Century.
- Richard Guilfoyle
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