MODERNIST COFFEE TABLE

THIS COFFEE TABLE IS DATED 1940 AND IS MADE IN OLIVEWOOD, SANTON PALISANDER AND MAPLE. IT COMES FROM THE SAME HOUSE AS A MODERNIST SIDEBOARD WHICH WE ALSO PURCHASED AND BOTH PIECES ARE DESIGNED BY THE ARCHITECT AXEL EINAR HJORT (1888-1959) AND MADE BY NORDISKA KOMPANIET (NK). HJORT WAS FAMOUS FOR HIS USE OF EXOTIC WOODS AND BOTH PIECES ARE MADE PREDOMINANTELY IN OLIVEWOOD. THE 'STRIPES' ON THE LEGS AND SKIRT ON THIS COFFEE TABLE IS A CHARACTERSTIC OF HJORTS DESIGN THAT APPEARS ON A VARIETY OF HIS PIECES OF FURNITURE.

Width: 35 ½" / 90 cm, Depth: 21 ½" / 55 cm, Height: 16" / 40 cm

Ref. HG 7157

AXEL EINAR HJORT (1888-1959)

Hjort was the director of Nordiska Kompaniet's design office and furniture department 1926-1938. Hjort was influenced by the French Art Deco style but changed direction to the Modernist style around 1930. His designs for furniture made by NK followed the latest trends and he liked to use exotic woods for his well-made furniture. Hjort designed the interior and the furniture for the Swedish Pavilion at the Barcelona Exhibition 1929. This attracted considerable attention and led to a growing international reputation as an innovative and original furniture designer. In 1930 at the Stockholm Exhibition Hjort exhibited twelve room settings from luxurious suites to simpler pinewood furniture. A review of the exhibition wrote that Hjort's furniture stood for exclusivity, quality and individualism. Another review noted how Hjort's modernism was strongly influenced by Neoclassicism. In 1938 he set up his own interior design company.

NORDISKA KOMPANIET

The department store Nordiska Kompaniet (N. K.), which was founded in 1902 by Josef Sachs, was the most prestigious furniture store in Sweden (a Swedish equivalent to Gillows) in the early 20th century. They had their workshops in the town of Norrköping south of Stockholm. They commissioned furniture designs from several of the most prominent architects of the day, and they had a considerable export business. N. K. had outlets in such different parts of the world as St Petersburg and Buenos Aires. They exhibited at the Art and Industry Exhibition in St Petersburg in 1908 and in the Barcelona Exhibition 1929. They also designed and made interiors and furniture for leading hotels like the Waldorf Astoria in New York.