Mathsson Fällbord - Extraordinary Design
Bruno Mathsson is world-renowned for his classically-comfortable chair designs as well as the creation of his extremely well-insulated and architecturally-amazing glass houses. Another of his best known designs is the Fällbord table, a practical table that provides both beauty and elegance in a home. Additionally Mathsson designed many other versatile pieces of furniture, including computer desks, daybeds, and a selection of tables.
It was natural that a young Mathsson would grow up to work with wood primarily, because the Matsson family had done nothing else for five generations before him. As a little boy, his chores were in the family furniture and woodworking shop, and he had hands on experience with techniques, tools and woods all of his life.
Mathsson ordered books and consulted experts in order to acquire skills and knowledge, particularly in engineering and technical aspects, not available to him in the Varnamo area. As a result, he acquired the skill sets he needed at the same time that he made contacts that were valuable to him later in his career. The design awards he received for his furniture helped to finance his formal education.
While he produced many different furniture types, comfort and beauty were common themes for each type. What's more, he designed his pieces with innovation in mind; he recognized that people value flexibility in furniture arrangement (inredning). The modular style of his pieces enhanced their popularity due to the ease in which the pieces could be used to create unique spaces and moods.
The Fällbord table is such a versatile piece. In Swedish, fällbord simply means "folding table" but in reality it is much more. It was first produced in 1935, with the main parts of the supporting trestle made of birch. The table top was made in birch and with a white laminate surface as well as models in oak, beech, cherry, oak, ash and other woods.
The Mathsson table folds into a tiny 23 cm bundle when completely collapsed and expands into a table 280 cm long when fully extended. It can be arranged with a dropped leaf at one or both ends and could serve as a tiny writing table in a coffee nook or expand into a banquet table with nearly every size in between possible. For those not accustomed to metric measurements, that is a range of a bit over 9 inches to about 110 1/4 inches.
The Fällbord table is most likely based on folding tables found in Swedish country homes that allowed flexibility in crowded spaces, but the purity of Mathsson's lines and construction made a traditional design his very own. Although Mathsson switched to using more modern materials such as metal tubing and synthetics about the 1960's and on, it is still his elegant wood furniture like the Fällbord that continues to be considered his best work.
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Bruno Mathsson was not only an architect of beautiful houses, he was also a creator of elegant, yet practical, fine furniture. Growing up in a family with a long, proud, multi-generational legacy of furniture making, he learned about all aspects of furniture making, which shows in the quality of his different furniture styles. For example, the fällbord table would be an excellent addition to anyone's home furnishing (inredning). It can fold and expand for maximum flexibility depending on its desired use and available space constraints. His furniture (möbler) is available in a variety of materials also.
Published December 5th, 2007
Filed in Home, Recreation
