Mid-Century Cabinet by Carl Axel Acking for Bodafors

Carl-Axel Acking (1910-2001) was a prominent architect, interior and industrial designer, who was particularly active during the 1940s and 1950s. He is remembered for his important contribution to modernist architecture and design in Sweden.

Acking was born in 1910 in Helsingborg, Sweden. From 1931 to 1934, he studied at the National College of Art in Stockholm, then at the Art School and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, graduating in 1939. During the 1930s, Acking assisted architect Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) with design of Gothenburg Town Hall. In 1939, he co-founded an architect's firm with Sven Hesselgren (1907-1993). They worked together until 1955. 

Acking’s furniture design consisted primarily of seating and storage pieces. His most famous designs include the Anette dressing table (1943) for Nordiska Kompaniet (NK); the Bentwood Chair (1944) for —a chair assembled from just ten pieces which Acking hoped would be both practical for a modern family and suitable for mass production; the Trienna Chair (1957) for NK—named after Milan’s Triennale, where the chair was exhibited; and the Tokyo Chair (1959)—originally designed for the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo. Over the course of his career, Acking also tried his hand at designing cabinets, textiles, and lighting.

Acking’s architectural designs spanned public and residential buildings. His most notable designs include, Siris Chapel in Torsby (1950); H55 Pavilions in Helsingborg (1955;  Acking was one of three main architects)—which consists of three pavilions built for the exhibition and perhaps his most well-known architectural work; Hässelby Family Hotel in Stockholm (1955), Quality Hotel in Ostersund (1956), Skånska Bank in Malmö (1965) and Birgitta Church in Skön (1972).

Acking held several esteemed professorships throughout his career at the National College of Art in Stockholm (1945-1957), the Institute of Technology in Stockholm (1957 onwards), and The School of Architecture at Lund University (1964-1976). He was also a member of many prominent associations such as the Swedish Architects Association (SAR), the Swedish Interior Architects Association (SIR), and Svensk Form (Swedish Society of Crafts and Design).

His designs can be found in the National Museum in Stockholm, the Nordic Museum in Stockholm and the Harvard University Museum in Massachusetts.

Acking was the winner of the prestigious Lunning Prize in 1952. He passed away in 2001.

Known by a variety of names—the AB Bodafors Chair and Furniture Factory, AB Svenska Möbelfabrikerna i Bodafors, Svenska Möbelfabriken AB, to name a few—Bodafors was one of Sweden’s earliest incubators for the application and subsequent renown of Scandinavian functionalism in furniture design. At one point, with over 400 employees, it was the largest furniture manufacturer in the Nordic region. The name is drawn from the town where the company is located, in the Småland region of Sweden.

Founded in 1918 via merger of small-scale Swedish manufacturers—chiefly, the Bodafors-based factories of brothers John Albert (1859-1913) and Frans Oskar Zeinwoldt (1860-1924) along with Värnamo Möbelfabrik and Carl Fredriksson's Träförädlings AB in Katrineholm—Bodafors established its main production in its namesake town, a particularly strategic location for furniture manufacturing that offered immediate access to railways, forests, and hydroelectric power.

From this factory, alongside one smaller facility in an existing space at Värnamo, Bodafors quickly cultivated a highbrow prestige countrywide, producing (mostly) series of practical furniture for an upper class Swedish minority. The company was awarded a Gold Medal at the landmark Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925 and, later, by extensive representation at the paradigm-shifting Stockholm Exhibition in 1930, which opened the world’s eyes to the Scandinavian approach to modernist architectural and interior design.

From the 1930s onward—rather in contrast to comparable Swedish furniture manufacturer Nordiska Kompaniet—Bodafors began modifying its design focus toward the expanding Swedish middle class. The 1950s and ’60s proved to be a particularly prolific era for this kind of production: Practical, well-made, competitively priced seating, tables, and casegoods—many of which were crafted in woods of teak, mahogany, and oak—became hallmarks of the Bodafors catalogue at this time.

Personnel-wise, Swedish interiors and furniture designer Axel Larsson (1898-1975) lays claim to much of Bodafors’ design innovations and industry imprints across the company’s lifespan. His tenure as the company’s head designer, from 1925 to 1956, was notable for the role he played in pioneering mass production processes, as well as for design commissions such as the Gothenburg Concert Hall. Bodafors also culled much of its stature from outside collaborations with Swedish functionalist modernist design heavyweights. Carl-Axel Acking, Bertil Fridhagen, Carl Malmsten, Bruno Mathsson, Josef Frank, Axel Einar Hjorth—all produced for Bodafors in the midcentury, with many involved (e.g., Malmsten, Einar Hjorth) at the very beginning of their expansive, influential careers.

Beyond practical goods for private homes and clients, Bodafors also manufactured furniture and furnishings for commercial offices, cinemas, schools, restaurants, hospitals, and ships. The company remained a heavy player in the Swedish design game until its dissolution in 1971, when it was absorbed into the Mälmo-based DUX furniture group.