KARL-ERIK EKSELIUS

Swedish furniture designer Karl-Erik Ekselius was born in Ålesund, Sweden, studying carpentry in Germany and later at Carl Malmsten’s School for Furniture Studies in Stockholm during the 1930s. Subsequently, he worked for J. O. Carlsson in Vetlanda, eventually taking ownership of the company in 1961.

During the H55 Exhibition in 1955 in Helsingborg, Sweden, an international exhibition for architecture, housing, design, and the arts, organized by the Swedish government’s office for the promotion of Swedish arts and manufacturing, Ekselius gained international recognition with his designs. Like many of his Swedish contemporaries during the 1950s and ‘60s, Ekselius propagated Scandinavian modern furniture, including dining tables and chairs and coffee tables in richly grained woods like rosewood and teak. He also created armchairs and office chairs in chromed metal and supple leather. Later designs were in a more international style, as with the furniture he designed for the Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York.