Swedish architect and furniture designer Alf Svensson worked with a range of organic materials that are today commonly associated with Scandinavian modernism, utilizing rosewood, oak and teak in his cabinets, chairs, tables and other furniture, and opting for leather when it came to creating upholstery for his sleek seating. He worked for several manufacturers including String Seffle AB, Bergbom & Co., Nybrofabriken and Nesto but is best known to collectors for the designs he created for DUX.
As creative director at Bergboms, Svensson worked with brass and opaline glass to create a range of lighting. He designed sculptural tripod-style floor lamps with bodies of steam-bent solid teak — a popular material with furniture makers of the mid-20th century — while his hanging ceiling lights featured lacquered metal shades that bring pops of color into living rooms and entryways.
Svensson’s role at the lighting manufacturer, which was founded in 1940 by Efraim Ljung — also the founder of Ljungs Industrier — saw him collaborating with the likes of legendary designers such as Greta Magnusson Grossman and Edward Wormley, a favorite of mid-century modern furniture collectors and the longtime director of design for the Dunbar furniture company.
Svensson also served as the creative director at Ljungs Industrier. In Sweden, Studio Ljungs Industrier AB is the large family-owned parent company of Duxiana (in America, DUX). In 1950, Folke Ohlsson, then leading Ljungs Industrier’s design team, decamped to the States to explore how he could expand DUX’s business, which at that point included a wide range of furniture. It was during this time, in the postwar era, that American tastemakers really sold the citizenry on the warmth and good craftsmanship that characterizes Scandinavian modern design.
Ohlsson established a DUX office not long after he arrived in California, first in San Francisco and later in Burlingame. Svensson, a chief designer in the Malmö, Sweden, office of Ljungs Industrier, was among the top-tier furniture design talent with which DUX collaborated (a list that included Wormley and Bruno Mathsson). Svensson’s Galaxy chair, a comfortable upholstered swivel seat attributed to a partnership between the designer and Yngvar Sandström that exudes Space Age charm, is highly sought after, and Svensson's relationship with DUX yielded similarly attractive sideboards, lounge chairs and other furnishings that are some of his most celebrated works.
Find vintage Alf Svensson furniture on 1stDibs.
ALF JORGEN STROMSTED "Primitive Figures" NYC Post-War Abstract Painting 1960
By Alf Svensson
Located in Cooperstown, NY
We have a fantastic example of Post-War New York School Abstract by ALF JORGEN STROMSTED (1898-1979) Born in Norway, Stromsted emigrated in 1924, naturalised 1930. He studied at the ...
Acrylic, Paint
Large Post-Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Large Post-Modern Abstract Painting. Offered is a very large beautifully executed Post-Modern framed abstract painting in lovely tones of greens, grays, cream and browns. This painti...
Canvas, Wood, Paint
Post-Modern Framed Abstract Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Post-Modern Framed Abstract Painting. Offered is a stunning large Post-Modern abstract painting in a gilt wood frame. This painting dates from the 1970's-1980's and is artist signed ...
Canvas, Paint
American Midcentury Abstract Modernist Painting with Figures
Located in San Francisco, CA
A bold and colorful midcentury abstract / modernist painting with figures signed on the reverse "Gerard" Framed in blue linen and giltwood. Canvas: 20 x ...
Canvas, Paint
$3,250
H 19.25 in W 19.25 in D 2 in
American Post-War Abstract Oil Painting on Paper, Modern, 20th Century
Located in Queens, NY
American Post-War Design abstract art, oil painting on paper with shades of multicolored blue & beige in a silver frame. (One of series of 4: BLO010A-D)
Paint
Abstract Figural Cubist Painting of Three Figures
Located in New York, NY
Fabulous cubist figural painting with Picasso like faces. Masterfully created, this small painting is a mixed-media on paper in rich tones floating in a ...
Wood, Paper
American Post-War Abstract Oil Painting, Modern Style, Framed
Located in Queens, NY
American Post-War Design abstract art, oil painting with shades of pale green and blue in a pine frame.
Paint
American Post-War Abstract Oil Painting, Modern Style, Framed
Located in Queens, NY
American Post-War Design abstract art, oil painting with shades of purple on white in a silver frame.
Paint
1960s NYC East River Cityscape Painting
Located in New Windsor, NY
The oil on canvas is signed, L. Jesberger, lower right, has an amazing noir feel to it. The moored tugboat and Silhouette figure in the foreground are juxtaposed with the highly illu...
Canvas
$3,250
H 19.25 in W 19.25 in D 2 in
American Post-War Abstract Oil Painting on Paper, Modern, 20th Century
Located in Queens, NY
American Post-War Design abstract art, oil painting on paper with shades of multicolored blue & beige in a silver frame. (One of series of 4: BLO010A-D)
Paint
$5,500
H 41.25 in W 53.25 in D 1 in
American Post-War Watercolor Painting, Hand-Painted, 1970s, Framed
Located in Queens, NY
American Post-War (1970s) watercolor picture of a stylized view from the back seat of a car with a driver by the beach with palm trees in an oak frame.
Canvas
$687Sale Price|44% Off
H 38.5 in W 33 in D 2 in
Restored Post-War Hawaiian Bird and Botanical Airbrush Painting, Framed
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Billy Seay Airbrushed Parrot Lovers artwork (original airbrushed over a print) for the Turner Company, circa 1948, in the original white painted frame. This a great example of the post-WWII Hawaiian and tropical art/decorating boom. Great for vintage Art Deco dwellings and rattan-inspired rooms. The print is new old stock and has never been displayed until now. Bill Seay (1922-2012) started his working life as Billy Seay, a child actor, in the late silents and early talkies (“Kid Millions” with Eddie Cantor, “Topaze” with John Barrymore, and “The Unknown” with Lon Chaney and the young Joan Crawford, are the most noted of these films), then followed in his father’s footsteps as an artist, joining the designer Sacha Brastoff in his studio from 1952 to 1959, remaining a life-long friend and co...
Paper
Vintage Post-War Abstract Expressionist / Pop Art Oil on Canvas
Located in Tarrytown, NY
Large hybrid Abstract Expressionist and Pop Art composition with representational and non-representational elements. Signed on verso " Holbrook / 1965." Soil and dust accretion, shou...
Canvas, Paint