Axel Einar Hjorth Coffee Table Model Corall by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden

Rare mirror with shelf model Typenko designed by Axel Einar Hjorth. Produced by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden.

Rare mirror model Record designed by Axel Einar Hjorth. Produced by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden.

Very rare console table model Louis designed by Axel Einar Hjorth. Produced by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden.

Very rare coffee table designed by Carl Bjørn and enamel table top designed by P. Törneman. Produced by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden.

Rare coffee table designed by Kerstin Hörlin-Holmquist. Produced by Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) in Sweden.

Coffee table model Plommonet designed by Kerstin Hörlin-Holmquist. Produced by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden.

Each element of this extraordinary table invites closer inspection. And yet, despite its lush veneers, unusual geometric base, and legs which taper and bulge in an elaborately carved sequence, it’s more than its constituent merits—it is, rather, a singularly cohesive and arresting whole. Embossed AB NORDISKA KOMPANIET and impressed R33214 - C18444. Exhibited: A similar library table (140 cm length) shown on November exhibition of Nordiska Kompaniet (famous department store of Stockholm) in 1928. Bibliography: Christian Björk, Thomas Ekström...

A coffee table attributed to Axel Einar Hjorth. Sweden, c1930s. Stained pine construction. Condition is generally good, but there is a historical repair to one side which...

Rare Art Deco / Swedish Modern coffee or side table attributed to Axel Einar Hjorth, manufactured by Nordiska Kompaniet (NK). Produced in 1937. Stained Birch base with a very unusual...

A 1940s solid stained pine table, by Axel Einar Hjorth. Executed by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden. Model Lovö. Excellent vintage condition.

Pine 'Lovö' table by Swedish Modernist Axel-Einar Hjorth, manufactured by Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden, circa 1932. Best known for his modern reduced design, this table by Axel-Eina...

The most famous table by Axel Einar Hjorth. “Uto” for Nordiska Kompaniet circa 1930s. Beautiful patina, solid structure, original table. Also known as the “Brancusi” table Nordiska Kompaniets Verkstäder Sweden, c. 1930 pine table: 18½ H × 27½ W × 21¼ D in (47 × 70 × 54 cm) literature: Axel Einar Hjorth: Möbelarkitekt, Björk, Ekström and Ericson, pg. 130 discusses series Axel Einar Hjorth and the Sportstugemöbler By Thomas Ekstrom For more than a decade Axel Einar Hjorth had the opportunity to develop his ideas in a limitless and creative way and today, he is credited with making some of the most interesting modernist pieces, not only in Sweden, but in the whole of Scandinavia. In 1929, just two years after becoming the furniture architect for the prestigious Nordiska Kompaniet, Hjorth presented a line of furniture called Sportstugemöbler, or weekend house furniture, at the spring exhibition. The designs consisted of simple lines and construction rendered in pine that mixed aesthetics from the peasant handicraft with international modernism. Exhibition installation featuring Hjorth's Utö line of Sportstugemöbler, c. 1932. Photo courtesy of Axel Einar Hjorth: Möbelarkitekt. Besides looking great, the Sportstugemöbler line exhibits the layered artistic quality of Axel Einar Hjorth’s hand and vision. The sculptural layer is maybe easiest seen in the Utö coffee table (1932), aka the Brancusi table, a name found on a drawing in the NK archive and refers to Hjorth’s admiration of the sculptor. At the time, the office at NK had an extensive collection of magazines and books dedicated to contemporary French sculpture. In another layer you’ll find traces of Swedish society and political life. Starting in the late 19th century, the bourgeoisie began purchasing land and building large summerhouses in the archipelago. They would relocate their entire households and staff during the summer months while the men commuted by steamboat to the city for work. In the 1930s the ruling Social democrats introduced a law that gave all employees the right to two weeks of vacation every year. The working-class often used it to help parents or relatives with the harvest but the growing middle class followed the bourgeoisie to the archipelago. NK and Axel Einar Hjorth found a ground for a new market with these new smaller weekend homes. The pieces of Hjorth’s Sportstugemöbler line are aptly named after islands in the archipelago: Utö, Sandhamn, Lovö, Värmdö, etc. The Island of Utö Furthermore, Sportstugemöbler has a depth in its reference to traditional peasant art through the use of a common wood, pine. The Swedish peasantry aesthetics have for centuries been based on a pure essentiality, something the writer Carl Jonas Love...