7/15/10

Happy Birthday Josef Frank


I love Google's home page today in honor of Josef Frank's birthday. The architect, furniture and textile designer wasn't technically a Swede, he sought asylum there during WWII and ended up contributing immensely to what we think of as the modern Scandinavian aesthetic.

He has an interesting history since most of his life he was an outsider in the design world while big names like Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe were in the spotlight. He began to see modernism as predictable and uniform and so his focus shifted to creating comfortable, liveable spaces shaped around the individual.

One of my favorite qutoes:
“The entire struggle for the modern apartment and the modern house has at its heart the goal of freeing people…”

--From The Home As Path and Place.



See Josef Frank's work at Svensktten (plus lots of amazing Scandinavian Design) and here on bonluxat.

2 comments:

Kristina at The Purple Pea said...

I love this type of pattern and have for years. Now I know exactly where it comes from! Thanks! :)

Kevin said...

I liked this article very much. I especially liked the green in Josef's collection. Very earthy and modern.