Poltrone Safari Mid-Century Trienna di Carl-Axel Acking per Nordiska Kompaniet, anni '60, set di 2

Carl-Axel Acking (1910-2001) è un noto architetto e designer industriale e di interni, particolarmente attivo negli anni '40 e '50. Acking è ricordato in particolare per il suo importante contributo al design e all'architettura modernisti svedesi.

Acking nasce nel 1910 ad Helsingborg, in Svezia, e dal 1931 al 1934 studia presso il National College of Art di Stoccolma, e dopo alla Scuola d'arte del Royal Institute of Technology di Stoccolma, dove si laurea nel 1939. Negli anni '30 lavora come assistente dell'architetto Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) collaborando alla progettazione del Municipio di Gothenburg. Nel 1939 co-fonda il proprio studio di architettura con Sven Hesselgren (1907-1993), e i due lavoreranno insieme fino al 1955. 

L'arredamento disegnato da Acking vede una predominanza di sedie e storage; i suoi pezzi più famosi includono la toeletta Anette (1943) per Nordiska Kompaniet (NK); la sedia Bentwood (1944) - composta da solo dieci pezzi, che il designer sperava potesse essere indicata per le famiglie moderne e, allo stesso tempo, adatta alla produzione in serie; la sedia Trienna (1957) per NK - che deve il suo nome alla Triennale di Milano, dove viene esposta per la prima volta; e la sedia Tokyo (1959), disegnata originariamente per l'ambasciata svedese a Tokyo. Nel corso della sua carriera Acking sperimenta anche con tessuti, illuminazione, armadi e mobiletti.

La sua carriera da architetto spazia dal pubblico al privato, e progetti di particolare rilievo includono la Cappela Siris a Torsby (1950); i padiglioni H55 a Helsingborg (1955; Acking fu uno dei tre progettisti) - tre padiglioni costruiti a scopi espositivi, probabilmente il suo lavoro più noto; l'albergo Hässelby a Stoccolma (1955), l'albergo Quality Hotel di Ostersund (1956), la banca Skånska a Malmö (1965) e la chiesa Birgitta a Skön (1972).

Acking occupa anche numerose cattedre presso il National College of Art di Stoccolma (1945-1957), l'Institute of Technology di Stoccolma (dal 1957), e alla School of Architecture at Lund University (1964-1976). Fu anche membro di molte associazioni come la Swedish Architects Association (SAR), la Swedish Interior Architects Association (SIR), e la Svensk Form (Swedish Society of Crafts and Design).

I suoi design possono essere trovati nel National Museum e nel Nordic Museum di Stoccolma, e presso l'Harvard University Museum in Massachusetts.

Vince il prestigioso Lunning Prize nel 1952. Muore nel 2001.

Stirred by the eye-catching grandeur and service possibilities of early-century Parisian and Londoner high-end shopping, Swedish businessmen Josef Sachs (1872-1949) and Karl M. Lundberg established Nordiska Kompaniet in 1902, laying the foundation for what would become Scandinavia’s first and, in time, most influential entry into the realm of luxury retail.

In 1915—after a twelve-year jaunt in a repurposed space at Stureplan Plaza and following Lundberg’s departure from the company—Sachs began construction of an entirely new and substantially more opulent store on Stockholm’s major Hamngatan corridor. The building was designed by one of the country’s leading architects at the time, Ferdinand Boberg (1860-1946), of Stockholm’s Rosenbad and Central Post Office fame. Nordiska Kompaniet emerged as Stockholm’s premier department store: modern and multi-tiered, centrally located, offering a lavish smorgasbord of services and Nordic-inspired merchandise capable of enticing the region’s most elite clientele. 

Beyond jewelry, fashion, cosmetics, food, Sweden’s first escalator, and endless panoramas of mahogany (which, noteworthy upon its opening, lined most of its interior), Nordiska Kompaniet Hamngatan offered shoppers its own line of custom-made furnishings crafted in workshops in Nyköping (est. 1904). The design aesthetic reflected the general ethos of the company: high quality production, pared-down lines with touches of genteel elegance, and, above all, an air of exclusivity.

As the century progressed, the in-house design and production wing of the Nordiska Kompaniet operation attracted some of Scandinavia’s most salient design innovators. Swedish architect-designer Axel Einar Hjorth headed up Nordiska Kompaniet’s furniture and interiors department between 1927 and 1938, a clout-expanding time for the company on the international stage. He directed Nordiska Kompaniet’s showcases at a number of important industry exhibitions, such as the 1929 World Fair in Barcelona, the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition, and the 1933 World Fair in Chicago. Along the way, Hjorth garnered acclaim for his often pine-crafted interiors designed for a range of prestigious public and private clients, including Stockholm’s Gunnar Asplund-designed city library and a train carriage for the Shah of Persia. During Hjorth’s tenure, Nordiska Kompaniet commissioned iconic work from Asplund—namely, his tubular steel Karmstol Side Chair and GA-2 Armchair (both 1931)—as well as esteemed Swedish architect-designer Carl Malmsten, who created furnishings for Stockholm’s Concert Hall (1928), the House of the League of Nations in Geneva (1934), and more.

While bespoke interior design in public spaces remained Nordiska Kompaniet’s main focus in the midcentury—especially in 1950s, when Nordiska Kompaniet furniture filled Swedish banks, hotels, embassies, steamers, and restaurants—this era also saw the rise of the company’s furniture designs for serial production. Of particular note is the Trivaserie (alternatively, Triva-Bygg), designed by Elias Svedberg and launched in Malmö in 1944, which featured standard furniture items distributed in flat packages to be constructed by consumers themselves at home (one of the first instances of the knock-down furniture later made famous by fellow Swedish heavyweight Ikea).

Under designer Lena Larsson’s direction from 1947-1965, the Trivaserie line was subsumed into Nordiska Kompaniet’s experimental NK-bo (NK “Living”) label. During these years, the Triva series moved beyond knock-down furniture and expanded to include designs like Kerstin Hörlin-Holmquist Paradiset Sofa (ca. 1958) and Yngvar Sandström’s Tokyo Bench (ca. 1964). Other notable midcentury Nordiska Kompaniet designs include the Annette Dressing Table (1943) and Trienna Chair (1957) by prominent architect, interior and industrial designer Carl-Axel Acking. 

Aided by the consumer influence of the department store, which gave the space and context to present single products not just exclusively, but also within full room settings, Nordiska Kompaniet enjoyed decades of manufacturing success before declining profitability forced the closure of their Nyköping workshop in 1973 and turned their focus to trade. Today, the company is still renowned as a high-brow supplier of goods and services, operating from two outlets: the original NK on Hamngatan, and another in Gothenburg (est. 1971).