The Flora Cabinet
A floral work of art and timeless furniture design. Cabinet 852, also known as the Flora Cabinet, is an iconic cabinet by Josef Frank, exquisitely decorated with prints from Nordens Flora (Nordic Flora).
The Flora Cabinet is an iconic cabinet, designed in 1937 and sought after by many of the major auction houses. The inspiration for the cabinet originated from Carl Linnaeus’ (Carl von Linné) summer residence in Hammarby, where the bedroom walls were wallpapered in prints from one of the world’s most famous and admired botanical volumes of work: Plantae Selectae from 1750-1773.
When Svenskt Tenn’s founder Estrid Ericson visited the Hammarby residence in 1930 in the company of her friend, the poet Bo Bergman, she was inspired by Linnaeus’ use of the beautiful book pages. It was romantic and provided a certain atmosphere that was in stark contrast to the strict aesthetics of the 1930s. Back home in Stockholm, she then had the walls and ceiling of her sleeping alcove wallpapered with French flora poster prints. Over time, flora prints would become a recurring feature in both Estrid Ericson’s interiors and Josef Frank’s furniture design.
The bedroom walls in Carl von Linné's summer house.
Sketch for the Golden Gate Exhibition 1939.
A joint idea by Josef Frank and Estrid Ericson
Josef Frank, who was influenced by Estrid Ericson’s interpretation of the flora poster prints, designed the now iconic Flora Cabinet in 1937. The cabinet would become a part of several of Svenskt Tenn’s many embassy interiors during the 1950s and in 1951, it was shown for the first time in the USA. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Svenskt Tenn was commissioned to create five window displays depicting a living room, dining room, conservatory, study and bedroom. The Flora Cabinet was in the bedroom and the Flora Dresser was displayed in another window.
A contemporary furnishing with the Flora cabinet.
Estrid Ericson's sleeping alcove at home, 1930.
The flora prints
Josef Frank’s original cabinet from 1937 was covered with floral prints taken from J.W. Palmstruch’s illustrations for Svensk Botanik, published in 1802-1809. Botanist Carl Lindman’s pictures from Nordens Flora (1901-1905) were also based on his work, and they were used to, among other things, decorate the Flora Cabinet in 1951. For the 2024 anniversary year, the Flora Cabinet is being launched featuring 115 flora prints from the second edition of Nordens Flora (1917-1922). They show a world of flowers and plants such as forget-me-nots, wild honeysuckle, linden and wood anemone, as well as ground elder, garden loosestrife, sloe, raspberries and much more.
For the 2024 centenary year, the Flora Cabinet has been relaunched with 115 flora poster prints from Nordens Flora (1917-1922).
Innovative furniture wallpapering
In addition to flora poster prints, Josef Frank’s cabinets and dressers were also covered with other motifs. Estrid Ericson searched antique shops for suitable materials, and she also saved decorative seed bags with root vegetable motifs that were used for the fronts of drawers.
One particularly unique discovery that Estrid Ericson made was the copperplate engravings of monkeys from Comte de Buffon’s classic work Histoire Naturelle from 1749, which she found in an antique shop for 100 Swedish Kronor. Josef Frank used them to create the now iconic 1941 Monkey Cabinet (model 1140), which sold at an auction in autumn 2022 for SEK 4.6 million.