Tag: Swedish

Categories / Design and Interiors

Accent sofa by Swedese

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Accent-white
A 1950s design that still looks as appealing today, that's the Accent sofa by Swedese.

The sofa was designed in 1959 by Yngve Ekström, who was the founder of Swedese and looks very much of its time. The clean lines of its upholstery are supported by a solid oak frame and legs. It's available in a variety of finishes – it's shown here in white leather which certainly enhances its classic looks. 

As you might expect, the sofa has something of an 'investment' price tag attached – in this case the sofa costs £3035.

Buy it from Skandium

Categories / Christmas, Food and Drink

1950s Christmas Bustle tea towel

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Christmas bustleAfter your Christmas dinner, continue the festive feel to your washing and drying up courtesy of this Christmas Bustle tea towel. 

Another great design found in the archive of Swedish firm Almedahls, this was originally designed by Aune Laukkanen in the 1950s. It's a suitably jolly design showing lines of elves readying the Christmas feast. Apparently providing a stack of tea towels is a traditional Swedish gift for hostesses – if that's a tradition you want to revive, surely this should be top of the pile? 

The tea towel costs $16. 

Buy it from Huset-shop

Categories / Design and Interiors

Sign Your Name wallpaper by Mrs Murphy

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Mrs murphy

We've already featured Mrs Murphy's fabulous pin-up girl tile stickers, and here's another of her designs with the same 50s rockabilly feel, her Sign Your Name wallpaper.

Inspired by traditional sailor tattoos, the wallpaper is covered with a mix of full and broken heart motifs. Each heart has a scroll for you to add your own name. Mrs Murphy has done some for you already – Elvis is on there for example – but after that it's up to you to personalize it as you want. The hearts are interspersed with images of roses, creating a striking work that's sure to be a conversation piece (or a source of many a broken heart maybe…). 

A roll costs 2600 SEK which works out at roughly £240. 

Buy it online

Categories / Food and Drink, Homeware

Ingela P Arrhenius tea towels at Lagom

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Img_drawYour kitchen would be overflowing if you bought all of the tea towel designs we recommended to you, but when, like the Ingela P Arrhenius tea towels at Lagom, they're an affordable way to buy great design they are hard to resist. 

You may remember Ingela's name as we featured her retro-styled artwork for kids a little while back. Here she translates those 1950s and 60s influence into something for the grown-ups too. Like the Lotta Kuhlhorn design we also flagged up, this tea towel is based around a well-stocked kitchen cupboard. Mixing in some colourful retro kitchenware, it's sure to brighten up the dullest spot of washing up. 

Printed onto 100% linen, it costs £10.52. 

Buy them online

Categories / Architecture, Design and Interiors

Josef Frank world map cushion

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Josef frank mapHere's something a little unusual for your home. A cushion featuring a world map designed by Josef Frank. 

Frank was one of the founders of the Vienna School of Architecture before emigrating to Sweden in 1933 where he became one of the most prestigious designers in the company Svenskt Tenn. It's Svenskt Tenn who have produced this cushion, based on one of his design from 1939. With no borders between the countries, it's a reaction to the political situation at the time and the fact Frank had fled Nazism in Austria. Using simple black and white, the design is a striking statement. 

The cushion is handprinted and costs 890 SEK, which works out to be roughly £80. 

Buy it online

Categories / Food and Drink, Homeware

Smorgasbord tray by Barbro Tryberg Boberg and Maria Holmer Dahlgren

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Smorgasboard

Add a touch of Scandinavian retro style to your kitchen with this smorgasbord tray designed by Maria Holmer Dahlgren and Barbra Tryberg Boberg.

Neither designer is a stranger to this site: Maria Holmer Dahlgren, whose London trays and tea towels are well known, and Barbra Tryberg Boberg who was featured recently for her Formverket Formica kitchenware. 

The design has a strong 1950s look with its skeletal depiction of plants and vegetables that have been illustrated in black and picked out in a second colour. It has the same feel as Marianne Westman's recently reissued 1956 Picknick design (you can now get that tray in the UK from New House Textiles for £15.50). Made from Swedish birch veneer, this tray design should hopefully have the same longevity.  

The tray costs £15.95. 

Buy it from Hus and Hem