Articles of Interest

Architect and furniture designer, Bruno Mathsson, is celebrated for his chairs and well insulated houses. His designs are extremely practical, versatile and beautiful. Mr. Mathsson's acclaimed home furnishing credits also include computer desks, daybeds and tables. An example embodying his fine taste for design is the Fällbord table which incorporates and exemplifies beauty, elegance, versatility and practicality.

One familiar with Mathsson's heritage would find it only natural that his primary focus would involve wood pieces. Five generations of his family had all devoted their lives to fine furniture and woodworking. As a boy, Matsson was given the knowledge required to excel in this art. His chores involved hands on experience with the technique, tools and woods he would need to continue the tradition throughout his life.

To get more skills and knowledge, especially in the engineering and technical aspects, not readily available in his small town of Varnamo, Mathsson sent away for books and consulted experts. Not only did he gain the knowledge and skills, he also created a network of mentors who helped him later on. His formal education was supported in part by design awards he earned for his furniture .

While he produced many different furniture types, comfort and beauty were common themes for each type. What's more, he designed his pieces with innovation in mind; he recognized that people value flexibility in furniture arrangement (inredning). The modular style of his pieces enhanced their popularity due to the ease in which the pieces could be used to create unique spaces and moods.

The Fällbord table is such a versatile piece. In Swedish, fällbord simply means "folding table" but in reality it is much more. It was first produced in 1935, with the main parts of the supporting trestle made of birch. The table top was made in birch and with a white laminate surface as well as models in oak, beech, cherry, oak, ash and other woods.

When mathsson table folds into tiny 23 cm bundle it completely collapsed and expanded into a table of 280 cm long when it is fully extended. It can be served as a writing table in a coffee nook or expanded into a banquet table with nearly equal size in between as possible. It ranges of 9 inches a bit over to about 110 1/4 inches, even for not accustomed metric measurements.

It would seem that the Fällbord table was inspired by the collapsible tables one sees in rural houses in Sweden, permitting flexible usage where there is not much room. However, the elegant simplicity of Mathsson's renderings and craftsmanship turned their style into one uniquely his own. While he changed in the 1960's and used metals and up-to-date man-made materials from that point, it is generally felt that his high point was reached with the creation of those furnishings, such as the Fällbord, which he crafted in wood.

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