Veerasamy has said that Ericson possessed a “sublime sensibility.” The context for that remark was aesthetic, but what this book makes clear is that the legacy of Svenskt Tenn is to open up the idea of home beyond four walls to include the world, with the understanding that we must treat the earth as our home as well. At a time when capitalism and the idea of endless growth are being called into question, the idea—realized by Svenskt Tenn and the Beijer Foundation—that a business can strive to positively impact peoples’ everyday lives in terms of aesthetics and well-being rather than being solely motivated by profit, sounds nothing short of revolutionary.
Did You Know?
The Swedish art critic Ulf Linde said that Svenskt Tenn “was much more than a store, more than an exhibition space—it was a way of life… She [Estrid Ericson] didn’t arrange the objects, she directed a piece of silent theatre, setting gesture against gesture, line against line in such a meaningful way that the space never felt empty even when you were there alone.”
Writing for Idun magazine in 1934, Gustaf Näsström dubbed Estrid Ericson the Madame Lanvin of Swedish interior design.
Lars Nilsson used Svenskt Tenn fabrics in his spring 2002 collection for Bill Blass. “This appropriation of furnishing fabrics to fashion was also part of Estrid Ericson’s legacy,” writes Nina Stritzler-Levine, “as she had used Frank’s fabrics as dress material in the late 1940s and early 1950s.”
Prince Sigvard, who designed sets in Hollywood, outfitted his own room at the Royal Palace in Stockholm with Svenskt Tenn—with the permission of his grandfather, King Gustaf V. In a 2006 interview, writes Hedvig Hedvist, the prince “recalled how the royal court had been horrified by his modern taste.”
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