Press Releases

Spring has sprung at Svenskt Tenn with the introduction of this year’s Easter collection, Spira. In focus stands design by Sofia Vusir Jansson, whose hand-painted glass eggs and sheer paper flowers are presented alongside a series of new products in Svenskt Tenn’s table setting range.

Sofia Vusir Jansson works broadly with commissions in photography, scenography, interior design and writing. Her creations take off in an imaginary world, with the objective that her work should be perceived as both organic and real. For Svenskt Tenn, Vusir Jansson has designed a series of hand-painted glass eggs and paper flowers, folded by Sofia herself.

- The Spira collection reflects how I see Easter. A playful holiday that is a bit crazy and colourful, but also simple and undemanding. It’s an atmosphere that can be created with just a few means, says Sofia Vusir Jansson.

The glass eggs, hand-painted in Germany, carry different floral motifs inspired by the bouquets and imaginative shapes in folk art, in a colorway inspired by Josef Frank’s California pattern. California is one of the patterns designed by Josef Frank during his time in New York (Frank lived in New York 1941-1946), occasionally seen as his ‘floral poster’ pattern. Altogether, Josef Frank has drawn twenty different (named) summer flowers, including cress, sweet pea, pansy, dahlia, and petunia, held together by a winding flowerbed.

- I love the fact that California is a sort of wildflower poster in textile. I’m very fond of such posters in general and often use them when I create my paper flowers. The fact that the pattern includes all my favorite flowers, which can also be found in my own garden, makes me feel very much at home, Sofia comments.

Alongside the design by Sofia Vusir Jansson, Svenskt Tenn also launches a series of table setting news, including napkin rings in straw, napkins in Svenskt Tenn linen in a new design, as well as returning classics in Josef Frank’s California pattern. This year’s Easter collection Spira launches online and in store (Strandvägen 5, Stockholm) on February 23.

- Easter has always been important at Svenskt Tenn. Estrid Ericson, the founder of Svenskt Tenn, was an expert on table setting. Visiting the store around Easter or Christmas during her many years at the company has been described as entering a magical world, filled with inspiration and holiday spirit – a tradition we are continuing with at Svenskt Tenn today, concludes Tora Grape, Marketing Manager at Svenskt Tenn.

For more questions about Svenskt Tenn’s new Easter collection, please email: Lisa Nordlund, PR Manager: lisa.nordlund@svenskttenn.se

For questions regarding images or sample requests, please email: Emma Björck, Press contact: emma.bjorck@svenskttenn.se

Art and design duo Folkform interprets Josef Frank’s pattern universe in a new lighting collection for Svenskt Tenn. The series of sculptural and pleated table lamps and lamp shades are launched together with a large exhibition that opens in connection with Stockholm Design Week 2023.

Pleated lamp shades have been part of Svenskt Tenn’s range ever since the 1930s. The new collection Pleated for Frank consists of two table lamps and a series of pleated lamp shades that can be used for selected Josef Frank fixtures. Traditional craftsmanship is innovated in the products as classic pleating techniques are given a new construction, developed by Folkform:

“Our fixtures are different from many other pleated lamps because the base of the lamp is a pleated shape as well, not just the shade. We have even updated the traditional pleating technique by hiding the entire lamp structure on the inside without any visible holes or cords, something that has not been done before,” says Anna Holmquist, Folkform.

Folkform’s pleated table lamp has previously been shown in other varieties, but never in patterns and fabrics by Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn. The collection includes fixtures and lamp shades in Josef Frank’s classic patterns Aristidia (1920s), Brazil (1940s) and Poisons (1940s), as well as with monochrome variations in Svenskt Tenn’s own linen fabric. Brazil has one of the largest pattern repeats amongst Josef Frank’s patterns, which gives every lamp its own print composition. The green elements from the lamps also form the foundation for the exhibition that can be seen in Svenskt Tenn’s store at Strandvägen, Stockholm, during spring 2023:

“For this year’s design week, we worked together with Folkform to create a monochrome space where everything from walls and ceiling to furniture and floor are showcased in different shades of green. This places the lamps in focus, creating spots of light around the green room, comments Karin Södergren, Head Curator at Svenskt Tenn.

Ever since designers Anna Holmquist and Chandra Ahlsell founded Folkform in 2005, they have been creating unique design objects that border on crafts and industry. In 2019, the design duo was awarded the Bruno Mathsson prize, the largest design prize in the Nordic countries. Folkform is currently represented in the collections of the National Museum in Stockholm and the National Museum in Oslo, among others. The duo have been nominated to the award as Designer of the Year at the newly founded Scandinavian Design Awards, 2023 (winners to be announced on February 6).

Pleated for Frank is the third collaboration between Svenskt Tenn and Folkform, of which the first was made in 2012, with the exhibition Masonite Memoriam.

- To be invited by Svenskt Tenn for a new collaboration - an entire collection of lighting as well as an exhibition, eleven years after the first one, is of course incredibly honoring, concludes Chandra Ahlsell, Folkform.

The exhibition Pleated for Frank, in collaboration with Folkform, is shown in Svenskt Tenn’s store at Strandvägen 5 in Stockholm between February 7 – May 19, 2023. The products are launched in store and online on February 6.

For more information, please contact Lisa Nordlund, PR Manager Svenskt Tenn:
lisa.nordlund@svenskttenn.se

For questions about imagery and editorial inquiries, please contact Emma Björck, Press contact, Svenskt Tenn:
emma.bjorck@svenskttenn.se

Please note that while lamp shades from Svenskt Tenn ship globally, our lamps are bound to delivery restrictions. Currently, lamps and fixtures ship to the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

About the patterns seen in Plated for Frank

Josef Frank designed more than 160 prints for Svenskt Tenn, the majority of which contained imaginative botanical motifs. For Josef Frank, using nature’s colours and forms in interior design was a way to breathe and feel free in the enclosed space of a room.

Aristidia

Josef Frank designed Tang, a bold print for its time, while in the coastal region of Falsterbo in the late 1920s. The name is derived from the Swedish word for seaweed, as the design contains several elements of the sea in the form of seaweed and starfish. The name Tang was later changed to Aristidia, after the Greek writer Aristides (150-100 B.C.).

Poisons

The colourful Poisons is decorated with plants of wine, hops and tobacco. Josef Frank designed the print during 1943-1945. In a 1952 Nationalmuseum (“The National Museum” in Stockholm) exhibition on Josef Frank, Svenskt Tenn showed an interior with a sofa covered in this print.

Brazil

Brazil contains two-thirds of the world’s remaining rainforests, and the country is the biggest in South America - the Brazil print by Josef Frank has one of the largest repeats (seamless patterns) among all of Frank’s textile prints. Josef Frank designed this print of the rainforest with its myriad of strong colours in 1943-1945.