I first came across the Scandinavian furniture designer Greta
Magnusson Grossman a few years back while looking through an auction catalogue
where I found an incredible desk lamp from the early 1950s that was designed by
her. I didn't know a thing about her background, but loved the look of
her pieces and sought to find out more.
Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999) was Swedish born and moved to
southern California in 1940 and immediately dove into furniture and interior
design, being one of the first to bring modern Scandi design to American
homes. In her time she was very well known as a lone woman in a man's
field and was popular with female clients like Ingrid Bergman and Greta
Garbo. Her furniture is classic mid-century modern with clean lines
incorporating modern finishes and stands up with the best of the Eames’, Knoll
or Saarinen. Don’t you love that amazing screen - I can't quite
figure out how those colorful spheres float in the space!
The very talented Magnusson Grossman worked largely alone
and in limited production runs, and so without children and heirs to keep her
name in the forefront of design, she drifted into obscurity. Lucky for us, there is a resurging interest
in her work. One can find original vintage pieces at auction or with
dealers like R Gallery, Manhattan.
Beautiful authorized re-issues are made by Gubi, Stockholm.
image credits: designmilk via R Gallery
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Thank you for stopping by and reading my feature today. I love what I do as an interior designer and art advisor, and it’s my hope that through these blog posts I’m enriching and heightening your aesthetic sensibility towards art, design and fabulous interiors in some way ~ Richard Rabel (a.k.a. the modern sybarite)
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