Anna and Dag Klockby, owners of Gärsnäs, will be in New York in conjunction with the opening of the General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York. Also in place will be 430 brand new chairs made in Sweden for the UN:
Zen New York – designed by Åke Axelsson, for Gärsnäs.
“It’s important that this new chair has a feeling of Scandinavian wood,”
says Åke Axelsson, professor, trained furniture-maker and interior architect,
with a career spanning more than 65 years.
Every September, the leaders and delegates of the world gather at UN Headquarters in New York to discuss the most current and pressing issues in the world. Before the opening of the General Assembly in September 2023, Gärsnäs received the prestigious commission to develop a new chair for the ECOSOC chamber. That Zen New York was chosen, conceived by design icon Åke Axelsson, was due, in part, to the chair already being a tried and tested model.
Photo: Lennart Durehed
“It’s not just about designing a new chair, but gathering together and developing experiences. Therefore, Zen New York is based on a previous chair, Zen, where I strove for the simplest solutions. It has proven itself in all kinds of public contexts and is easy to adapt to completely new environments. It’s crucial that know-how is tailored to new circumstances,” says Åke Axelsson.
Several improvements have been made at the request of the UN, for example discrete grips on the arms to facilitate lifting and moving the chair. Much work has gone into the padding and seat cushion with a little more volume. Leather edging protects the tops of the arms. The chair is low maintenance. The undercarriage, seat and back are easy to disassemble. The fabric upholstery can be cleaned and changed if necessary.
“The backs of the Zen chairs make a soft wave motion in the room. The Ministry’s keywords for the project were friendly, generous and embracing,” says Lotta Cronsjö Gest, the project’s interior architect at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
430 chairs made in Sweden by Gärsnäs for UN Headquarters
The new Zen New York, designed and developed by Åke Axelsson for furniture manufacturer Gärsnäs, was produced on assignment from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, in consultation with a reference group including Svensk Form (the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design), the Swedish Institute, Public Art Agency Sweden, ArkDes (the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design), the Swedish National Heritage Board and UN Headquarters. The order covers 240 stand-alone Zen New York delegate chairs, 190 chairs for advisors and 20 secretarial chairs. Now all chairs are the same model, in line with Markelius’ democratic concept that everyone has equal importance. The chairs are made at the Gärsnäs factory in southern Sweden and delivered by Input Interiör Stockholm. The upholstery, Molly, is wool, in accordance with UN wishes, and has a discrete, shimmering, brown-beige pattern, designed by Åsa Pärson for Kvadrat.
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