Tea Trolley, Anonymous, for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950s

Serving trolley, anonymous, for DUX, Sweden, 1960s. Rattan and bamboo. H: 78 cm W: 48 cm L: 91 cm

Occasional table designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden. 1950s. Mahogany. H: 45 cm L: 80 cm D: 40 cm Josef Frank was a true European, he was also a pioneer of what would become classic 20th century Swedish design and the “Scandinavian Design Style”. Austrian- born Frank started his design career as an architect after having trained at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna between 1903 and 1910. After his training he went on to teach at Kunstgewerbeschule (The Viennese School of Arts and crafts) where he developed and espoused the new school of modernist thinking towards Architecture and Design that was coming to fruition in Vienna at the time. He also went on to lead the Vienna Werkbund throughout the 1920s. This was a truly progressive group of Architects and Designers who set about improving the daily lives of Austrian people through modernist design and architecture in partnership with Arts and Crafts ideals and construction. Frank’s leadership of the Werkbund had already cemented his place at the forefront of European design. Frank’s time in Vienna was typified by his design for the “Die Wohnung” exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart, 1927 where he exhibited along side his contemporaries at the forefront of design, such as the likes of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Here he showed a specially designed pair of flat-roofed reinforced concrete houses in what is now seen as a typical modernist style. What separated Frank’s house from the other 32 houses of the exhibition was the interior and furniture inside the building. It was described as “Neo-Classical” and filled with an eclectic mix of period pieces, modern design and pieces designed by Frank himself that seemed to cross the two worlds. This was a complete opposite direction to that which his fellow Architects were travelling in with their pared back and angular aesthetics. Frank said of his own work: “The house is not a work of art, simply a place where one lives,” and by this reasoning Frank rejected the regimental mechanisation of the living space that his contemporaries believed in, instead he set about creating congenial and spontaneous interiors. Frank’s practice saw him placing the bright colours and the soft forms of nature back into the furnishings and interiors that he thought modernism sorely mist. Frank, along with Oskar Walch set up Haus und Garten in Vienna in 1925. This was Frank’s first commercial foray into furniture and home furnishings and the company went on to become the most influential furnishing house in Vienna with a riotous depth of colour and interesting shapes becoming the trademark of their design. However this success was to come to an end with rise of Nazism in Vienna in the early 1930’s. Frank was Jewish, and he and his wife Anna decided they would leave Vienna for her motherland: Sweden, in 1933. Frank continued to design for Haus and Garten, visiting Vienna occasionally and designing the pieces that would continue to be the company’s best...

Table model 590 designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950s. Elm table top, cherry base, and brass. Stamped. Josef Frank was a true European, he was also a pioneer of ...

Paper basket ‘Hortus’, anonymous for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950. Brass. Stamped.

Serving trolley model 756 designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1940s. Veneered walnut and brass. H: 65 cm W: 53 cm Width when fully extended: 89 cm D: 80 cm Josef Fr...

Pair of candlesticks designed for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950s. Brass. Stamped. H: 40 cm Diameter: 9 cm.

Luxurious tea trolley bar cart, manufactured in Sweden by Svenskt Tenn, circa 1950. This elegant piece is made of beautiful quality brass, giving it beautiful classy appearance. I...

Luxurious tea trolley bar cart, manufactured in Sweden by Svenskt Tenn, circa 1950. This elegant piece is made of beautiful quality brass, giving it a very classy appearance. It s...

Aalto Tea Trolley Model 901 for Artek, circa 1950s. Model created in the 1930s. White linoleum top with birch frame and white lacquered wood wheels with rubber rings...

1950s bar trolley with wooden wheels and brass decorations.

Beautiful side table by Josef Frank, with an oval green marble table top on a slender mahogany base. Deep green marble, lovely sculpted legs and feet.

Unique white lacquered tea trolley or bar cart by Cesare Lacca for Cassina In my opinion the white lacquer is period correct from when it was ...