Back to Nybrogatan – Källemo presents GA1 & GA2 by Gunnar Asplund @ Stockholms Auktionsverk

On Wednesday, February 7, the doors will open to a special exhibition where we can proudly present Källemo’s relaunch of Gunnar Asplund’s iconic chairs, GA1 and GA2. Welcome to take part in this unique experience and a prominent part of Swedish design history.

Källemo visits Stockholm’s Auktionsverk during Design Week

During Stockholm Design Week – which runs between 5 and 11 February – Stockholm’s Auktionsverk will be visited by Småland’s Källemo, who will reintroduce two of Gunnar Asplund’s coveted models from 1931: the GA-1 chair and the GA-2 armchair. They were originally designed for the Swedish Crafts Association’s boardroom at Nybrogatan 7 in Stockholm.

It was the year after the successful Stockholm exhibition in 1930 that the Swedish Crafts Association (today Svensk Form) bought a property at Nybrogatan 7, where they hired the aforementioned exhibition’s chief architect Gunnar Asplund to do a major remodel. The boardroom had been fitted with large window sections designed by Sigurd Lewerentz, and Asplund was also commissioned to create the interior itself. The Swedish Craft Association had high ambitions and wanted the interior design to be “an example for Swedish architecture and design through an in-depth collaboration between designers and industry”. With the result that Gunnar Asplund designed everything, down to the smallest detail. From chairs and tables to built-in bookshelves, lighting, clocks, carpets and elements. He even decided which plants would be in the window. The only thing he did not tackle was the room’s textiles, which were instead created by Elsa Gullberg.

The GA-1 chair was both at its inception – and also in 1988 when Källemo obtained the rights from the Asplund family – challenging to produce in anything other than small series. Today, however, they have solved the previous production challenge and are introducing the models anew during this year’s design week. Källemo is one of the Nordics’ leading furniture producers, which was founded in 1973 in Värnamo in Småland by Sven Lundh and is now run by daughter Karin Lundh, who is CEO of the company.

– Gunnar Asplund’s GA-1 and GA-2 have been relevant for almost a century and are two models we have always cherished. The reason we really wanted to, and worked hard to, find production solutions for these particular models is that they are just as relevant today as when they were designed. Relevant based on the meaning that always guides us in our work and choice of models; that they “can withstand the wear and tear of the eye” as my father formulated it, says Karin Lundh.

In connection with the exhibition, Stockholms Auktionsverk also welcomes its customers to bring in items signed by the renowned architect and his contemporary friends – on February 8, a valuation day is held dedicated to the most influential architects and designers of the 20th century. Where Ulrika Ruding, specialist and head of the arts and crafts department at Stockholms Auktionsverk, holds the baton. She herself has a personal and special relationship with Gunnar Asplund, who has been her favorite architect since childhood.

– Even though he is associated with the interwar period, when he was most active, Gunnar Asplund’s relevance has never waned. You can ask any architecture student today – anywhere in the world – what is on their bucket list and I can guarantee that a trip to Stockholm to see the city library and the world heritage site Skogskyrkogården is on it. His architecture is always inviting and open, while his creations, even on a smaller scale, have always attracted a wide audience.

During the 1920s, Gunnar Asplund was one of the foremost representatives of Nordic classicism, with the construction of Stockholm’s city library in 1928, and as one of the foremost pioneers and representatives of functionalism with the Stockholm exhibition in 1930.

– Asplund had a great impact on Stockholm’s cityscape and functionalism in general, the fact is that he was one of functionalism’s most central figures. It can also be seen in these chairs, which were highly contemporary in 1931 and were certainly inspired by the great wave of functionalism that swept Germany at the end of the 1920s. It is incredibly nice to be visited by the reputable Källemo, a producer that has always been synonymous with high quality, concludes Ulrika Ruding.

In connection with Stockholm’s Design Week 2024, three themed auctions with contemporary grants are also held – Modern Classics, Modern Silver and Modern Ceramic. The viewing for Källemo’s exhibition and all themed auctions are open to the public from 14:00 on February 7 at Nybrogatan 32.