Estrid Ericson and Svenskt Tenn

I recently went to Stockholm and came across Estrid Ericson (above), founder of the spectacularly colourful home furnishing empire, Svenskt Tenn. If print and colour are your thing, then you probably know about the late Estrid’s lovely flagship store and her cheerful, sunny designs. It was the first time I’d encountered the brand, which has had a shop at Strandvägen 5 since 1927 and I was fascinated to see how the normally restrained Swedish style worked with exuberant prints.

Estrid started off designing pewter ware and teamed up with print designer Josef Frank in the mid 30s, the combination of his designs and her eye for an elegant bit of furniture worked very successfully. The print designs are often on white bases using very clear colours, so you just can’t help feeling uplifted when you see the stylish room sets. They reminded me a bit of Vera Neumann’s work.

The temporary pop up store is set in an old cinema -the main store is re-opening after a massive refit on the 25th October – and cleverly uses the stepped seating area (without the seats) to display elegant and quirky little room sets. I was tempted by the gorgeous floral note books, but bought a great book on Estrid and Josef, which is full of inspiring black & white photos of Swedish interior design, Estrid Ericson, Founder of Svenskt Tenn is available through the shop and there are lots of inspiring pictures on the Svenskt Tenn website (look under Inspiration).

The company ships abroad, but it’s never been a better time to plan a trip to Stockholm, as the newly refurbished store will undoubtably be a joyful sight when it re opens on the 25th October, so if you have a few air miles and a spare weekend, I’d suggest a visit. For those restricted to a scan of the website, I love the chairs and the textiles and the botanicals.