
1950’s Danish Sofa
By Fritz Heningsen
Located in Turners Falls, MA
Very well crafted Danish cabinet maker sofa. Stripped wool upholstery with oak legs. Denmark. 1950’s
20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Sofas
Upholstery, Oak
Carl Malmsten, a prominent furniture designer and educator associated with Swedish modernism, enjoyed immense popularity for his shapely sofas and armchairs in luscious color palettes. Malmsten believed that light — much like our eyes and bodies — doesn’t like to bump into sharp objects. Smooth edges, on the other hand, are kinder to the eye and and to our touch, and allow light to softly bounce off surfaces. Malmsten felt that if his furniture didn’t “serve well” in the home, it had no business being there.
Malmsten’s career essentially began in 1915, when his submissions for a competition to furnish the new Stockholm City Hall were first- and second-place prize winners. In the 1920s, his profile soared. He won a prize at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts — the show that brought the Art Deco style to worldwide attention — and quickly became one of the most sought-after designers of commercial seating in Sweden.
Malmsten was soon contracted to design chairs, tables and other furniture for the Stockholm Concert Hall, the Swedish Institute in Rome and the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. His famous Art Nouveau-influenced Stadshusstolen chair, designed for Stockholm City Hall in 1916, is a highlight of the city’s recently opened Museum of Furniture Studies. Malmsten expanded into interior design and created a luxurious, well-appointed living room in the palace of then-Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and his bride, Crown Princess Louise.
In the 1930s, Malmsten clashed with critics when he voiced his opposition to functionalism. Like Danish modernist Kaare Klint, he favored using quality local materials and prized traditional craftsmanship. Malmsten’s furniture draws on graceful neoclassical influences, and he said that extreme functionalism contributed to “sterile” interiors — while the curving contours of his work may share ground with furniture designed by Alvar Aalto or Bruno Mathsson, Malmsten differed with Bauhaus eminences and some Scandinavian modernists on their prioritization of functionalism.
For an exhibition in 1956 at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, Malmsten designed furniture that was intended for mass production — and his striking designs began to make their way into middle-class Swedish homes owing to Malmsten’s partnerships with manufacturers such as O.H. Sjögren. Until then, he had built his pieces at the school he founded in the 1930s or had them made by artisans at several small local workshops.
Malmsten founded a number of schools for design and collaborated with other designers who shared his philosophy of “hand and mind in creative collaboration.” These included the esteemed textile artist Märta Måås Fjetterström, whose pieces he included in exhibits and even his own home.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Carl Malmsten seating, tables, cabinets and more.

Danish Cabinet Maker Sofa
By Henning Kjærnulf
Located in Turners Falls, MA
Danish Cabinet maker sofa. Carved oak frame. Nail head details. More recent micro suede upholstery. 1970’s, Denmark Delivery to NYC Area $55...
Upholstery, Oak
1950s Sofa by Kerstin Horlin-Holmquist
By Kerstin Horlin Holmquist
Located in Turners Falls, MA
Sofa designed by Kerstin Horlin-Holmquist. Manufactured by Nordiska Kompaniet. Birch legs with vintage upholstery. 1958 Unmarked
Upholstery, Birch

vintage sofa sofa Carl Malmsten Sweden
By Carl Malmsten, O.H. Sjögren
Located in Lemmer, NL
vintage sofa sofa Carl Malmsten Sweden period 1950s design Carl Malmsten OH. Sjogren's Sweden condition good light signs of use size 77 x...
Fabric, Oak

1960s Carl Malmsten "Lindegård” Sofa
By Carl Malmsten
Located in New York, NY
A Swedish Modern birch framed sofa designed by Carl Malmsten. This sofa has curved sides and back. The exposed vertical stiles look great with or with out the shaped back cushions. A...
Fabric, Birch

Scandinavian Modern Samsas Sofa by Carl Malmsten
By O.H. Sjögren, Carl Malmsten
Located in Madrid, ES
Elegant three seat "Samsas" sofa by Carl Malmsten manufactured by O.H Sjögren in Sweden during the 1960s. The sofa was originally designed by Mal...
Fabric, Upholstery, Beech
Vintage Swedish Samsas Sofa by Carl Malmsten
By Carl Malmsten
Located in London, GB
A stunning and extremely comfortable vintage Swedish Samsas sofa by Carl Malmsten. This was recently imported from Sweden, it dates from the 1960’s. This is of extremely high qualit...
Bouclé, Beech
Vintage Swedish Samsas Sofa by Carl Malmsten
By Carl Malmsten
Located in London, GB
A stunning and extremely comfortable vintage Swedish Samsas sofa by Carl Malmsten. This was recently imported from Sweden, it dates from the 1960’s. This is of extremely high qualit...
Bouclé, Beech