Italian Dinner zum Beispiel, italienisches Abendessen: In einem blauen Streifen tummeln sich Muscheln, Fische, Hummer und Oktopusse mit Glupschaugen. Darüber wachsen Tomaten- und Auberginenpflanzen sowie Zitronen- und Olivenzweige aus ein und demselben bunt gemusterten Stamm. Oder Manhattan: Ausschnitte aus dem New Yorker Stadtplan in kräftigen Rot-, Grün- und Blautönen, umrahmt von Schriftbändern mit Straßennamen. Terrazzo wiederum abstrahiert das namengebende Material zu einem vielfarbigen Formgewimmel in Giftgrün, Dunkelgrün, Rot und Orange vor grau-weißem Hintergrund.
Josef Franks Muster sind so ausgelassen bunt, einfallsreich, bisweilen sogar etwas verrückt – es erscheint kaum vorstellbar, dass der österreichische Architekt sie von den späten Zwanzigerjahren bis Ende der Vierzigerjahre entworfen hat. Dank ihrer starken Farbkontraste und organischen Motive flirren sie wie psychedelische Plattencover oder Hippiekleider.
Perhaps even more amazing: many of Frank’s wild patterns have been Svenskt Tenn bestsellers for decades. The Swedish furnishing company sells them printed on curtain fabrics and wallpapers or in the form of pillows, napkins, trays or bags. For many tourists to Stockholm, a visit to the Svenskt Tenn shop on the posh Strandvägen harbor promenade is part of the standard itinerary. Simply because of the labyrinthine rooms, which extend over two floors and several buildings and are filled with furniture, furnishings and home textiles.
Even the royal family shopped at Svenskt Tenn
The many impressions can be digested in the in-house café, somewhat hidden on the upper floor. Svenskt Tenn fans should soon take a detour from Strandvägen to the other side of the harbor, to the Liljevalchs art gallery on the island of Djurgården. The exhibition “A Philosophy of Home” for Svenskt Tenn’s 100th birthday has been on display there since the end of September, of course with many designs by Josef Frank – not just textile samples, but also furniture and lights.
The fact that the Viennese architect and modernist was able to give his imagination such free rein is thanks to a courageous young woman. In 1924, 30-year-old Estrid Ericson opened a shop for tin objects in Stockholm with an inheritance. But a short time later she broadened her perspective to furnishing the entire home; in 1927 she moved to the current address on Strandvägen; The shop was considered a popular address and the royal family also shopped here.
In 1932 she finally commissioned Josef Frank to design her first furniture. The Jewish architect, a well-known representative of moderate, “humane” modernism, founded the furnishing company Haus & Garten with colleagues in Vienna in 1925. When Frank emigrated to Stockholm with his Swedish wife Anna in 1934 because of increasing anti-Semitism, he began an intensive collaboration with Estrid Ericson, which lasted until his death in 1967.
Combine what belongs together
It was a congenial connection, because Frank’s creative enthusiasm and wit met Ericson’s entrepreneurial vision and inimitable taste. She wasn’t afraid to combine old and new, objects from the flea market with valuable handicrafts, for example, long before mix & match in interior design became a fashionable cliché.
Together with the equally free-thinking Frank, Ericson created an eclectic, happy and cozy universe – at a time when tidy, reserved modernity was the style-former, especially in Scandinavia.
The legacy of Estrid Ericson and Josef Frank “is one of remarkable longevity,” says Tora Grape. “Svenskt Tenn’s most important task is to preserve this heritage,” says the company’s marketing director. The conditions for this are good, because Ericson once again demonstrated foresight in 1975 when she sold her company to a foundation shortly before her death.
Since then, the company’s profits have gone to scientific research and other charitable purposes. And because profit maximization plays no role at Svenskt Tenn, the range to this day includes an economically unreasonable number of products, including even some of the first tin objects from the 1920s.
The products are still manufactured in specialized craft workshops in Sweden. According to Tora Grape, there are no plans to open additional stores. But that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t try something new on Strandvägen after 100 years. The house regularly collaborates with contemporaries, including designers Ilse Crawford and India Mahdavi, fashion entrepreneur Margherita Maccapani Missoni, Acne Studios founder Jonny Johansson and artist Luke Edward Hall.
The results of these collaborations are presented as exhibitions on the ground floor of the store and can also be found as products in the range. Creative people are often inspired by Josef Frank’s patterns – it’s hard to escape their exuberant charm.
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