Axel Bjurström | ScandinavianDesign.com

Background

Axel Bjurström, born in 1977, is a Swedish architect and designer based in Stockholm. He graduated from Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design) in 2007 and has since worked across architecture, interior design, and product design. Early in his career he did subconsultant work for leading Swedish architectural studios on high-end projects, including retail concepts, corporate headquarters, and commercial interiors — an experience that grounded his furniture practice in the same discipline as a building trade.

Design philosophy

Bjurström’s practice, run today as Studio Axel Bjurström, spans small-scale architecture, interior architecture, and industrial and furniture design. He describes the goal simply: to create “simple and functional design with clean lines based on the Scandinavian design tradition.” That restraint shows up as much in a picnic table as in a stacking chair — function first, decoration only where it earns its place.

Breakthrough with Materia

Bjurström’s longest and most visible manufacturer relationship is with Materia, the Swedish furniture maker based in Tranås. The INA chair, made from 100% recycled polypropylene on an electrogalvanized steel frame with a rotating stacking system, became one of his best-known designs and won Elle Decoration’s Chair of the Year in 2015 — three years after he received the magazine’s Rising Star of the Year award in 2012. The Curling table, a flexible side table with an asymmetrically placed pole that slides over a sofa or armchair edge, extended the same thinking into the modern workplace. With Mia Cullin he also designed the Cap stool for Materia, a compact, stackable seat inspired by a sewing thimble.

Beyond Materia

Bjurström’s furniture and product work reaches well beyond one manufacturer. For David Design he designed the Hammock series, a collection in vegetable-tanned leather suspended on metal frames that develops its own patina over time. For the Swedish outdoor furniture company Widala he designed Fix Picnic, a heat-treated pine and steel picnic table for public spaces, built with accessibility add-ons — a wheelchair-height extension and a baby-chair attachment — rarely seen in outdoor furniture at that scale. In 2021 he added the Rollo folding table, his first product for Karl Andersson & Söner, and he has also designed the Zen rug collection, a hand-tufted wool series in New Zealand wool for Ogeborg.

Recognition

Bjurström’s honors include Elle Decoration’s Rising Star of the Year (2012), Elle Decoration’s Chair of the Year (2015) for the INA chair, and an iF Design Award. His work is carried by several established Swedish design houses, including Nordiska Galleriet and Design House Stockholm.

Axel Bjurström is active today, and his studio’s own portfolio can be seen at