Lovö' Table Axel Einar Hjorth

Description

'Lovö' table designed by Axel Einar Hjorth for Nordiska Kompaniet in 1929.
A minimal and solid design inspired by Viking plank tables. The table top is made of thick planks of pine assembled in two layers. The grain direction of these planks alternates which creates a striking visual effect. However, the purpose of this construction techniques is to give the table strength and to prevent warping. Underneath, the supporting trestle is connected by a stretcher fixed in place by mortice and tenon joints.
'Lövo' was part of a line of furniture called Sportstugemöbler or 'weekend house furniture', which was intended to sell to the bourgeoisie and rising middle-class that between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century populated the Stockholm Archipelago, building there their large summerhouses. The pieces of this collection were named after the islands of the archipelago, and the table takes presumably its name after the island of Lovön.
The line wasn’t a success at the time, most of the Swedish middle/upper class did not appreciate the minimal, avant-garde designs by Hjorth and found the pieces too expensive; Nordiska Kompaniet tried to change this trend, lowering the prices, but due to the quality of materials and construction it couldn’t compete with most of the other makers. The result of all this was that all the pieces belonging to the line, have been made in low numbers and just up until the early 1950s.
The quality of the execution and of the design, with its references to modernism and French sculpture (another table of the series is called ‘Brancusi table’), has never been discussed, and made Hjorth’s pieces collectable like few others. In 2009 the first book on Axel Einar Hjorth was published and the Sportstugemöbler line was included in it; this contributed to its rediscovery and reevaluation.
In overall excellent condition.

Specification

Width: 180 cm
Height: 73 cm
Depth: 75 cm