Bruno Mathsson

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Bruno Mathsson in his home in Värnamo 1950

Bruno Mathsson (born January 13, 1907 in Värnamo , Sweden ; † August 17, 1988 there ) was one of the most important furniture designers in Sweden, alongside Carl Malmsten and Yngve Ekström , who created some of the classic objects of functionalism .

development

Bruno Mathsson was born as the son of Karl Mathsson, a fourth generation master carpenter, and should of course follow in his father's footsteps. He learned the craft from the ground up and thus acquired a comprehensive knowledge of wood technology. For Mathsson, however, that was not enough: the ideas of functionalism took possession of him. During the early 1930s, the Swedish design scene was shaped by the so-called Funkis movement and its representatives such as Axel Larsson and Sven Markelius . In contrast to these, Mathsson took a new approach by advocating seating furniture with gently curved and organic shapes that should be adapted to the human body and its natural sitting posture.

Bentwood furniture

Mathsson implemented his ideas with layered bentwood (a process developed by Michael Thonet in the 19th century and also used by other Scandinavian designers such as Alvar Aalto in the 20th century ) and braided girths as a seat. In this way, for example, the Eva chair (1934) and the Pernilla chaise longue (1934) were created as parts of a functionally appealing furniture group. Mathsson once said: "The problem of sitting keeps puzzling me." His international breakthrough came with these products at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937.

architect

In 1947 Bruno Mathsson and his wife Karin went on a long trip - planned by the architect and lecturer Edgar Kaufmann Jr. at MoMa - to the USA, where he met architects such as Charles Eames , Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright . This trip was very important for him and found including the famous glass house design, in which he previously Philip Johnson 's Glass House and the Eames House had studied. From 1945 to 1958 he mainly devoted himself to architecture and designed a large number of modernist buildings made of wood, glass and steel. Among other things, the well-known glass house in Värnamo , which now serves as an exhibition space for its furniture.

Tubular steel furniture

From 1958 Mathsson designed tubular steel furniture together with the Danish mathematician Piet Hein , such as the Superellips (1964) and Supercirkel (1964) tables . Hein had used a mathematical formula for the shape of the table tops, for which he coined the term superellipse . It was also used in the design of the largest roundabout in Stockholm at Sergels Torg .

literature

  • Charlotte & Peter Fjell: scandinavian design . Taschen-Verlag, 2002 ISBN 3-8228-5882-X
  • Charlotte & Peter Fjell: modern chairs . Taschen-Verlag, 2002 ISBN 3-8228-2027-X
  • Ingrid Sommar: stockholm modern, en guide till stans design . Wahlström & Widstrand, 1998 ISBN 91-46-17364-1
  • Ingrid Böhn-Jullander: Bruno Mathsson, furniture constructors, glass showers, men . Bokförlaget Signum, 1992 ISBN 91-87896-12-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hedvig Hedqvist, Christian Björk: Swedish Modern: En historia om modernismens yttringar i Sverige genom design, inredning och formgivning. Orosdi-Back, 2018, ISBN 978-91-88629-44-9 ( google.de [accessed September 27, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Mathsson, Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish architect and designer
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Värnamo , Sweden
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1988
Place of death Värnamo , Sweden