Thomas Sandell and Sandellsandberg: How a Swedish Architect Built One of Sweden’s Most Versatile Design Offices

Thomas Sandell (born 1959 in Jakobstad, Finland) is one of Sweden’s most widely active architects and designers — a practitioner whose output ranges from furniture and product design to major public buildings and urban planning.

His work, characterised by formal clarity and Nordic restraint, has been realised across Swedish and international manufacturers and institutions for more than three decades.

Education and Early Career

Sandell studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, graduating with a Master of Architecture in 1990. He established his own practice, Thomas Sandell Arkitektkontor, the same year — beginning, during the economic crisis of the early 1990s, with small interior and furniture commissions while working part-time as a post-graduate student. The practice grew steadily as larger architecture commissions followed.

Sandellsandberg

In 1995, Sandell co-founded sandellsandberg together with Ulf Sandberg and Joakim Uebel — one of the first Swedish offices to integrate architecture, design and communication under one roof. The firm grew to a team of around 60 and undertook projects across scales, from individual products to city planning. From 2014 sandellsandberg operated exclusively as an architectural practice; since 2016 it has been part of AFRY.

Architecture and Interiors

Sandell’s built work includes the interiors of the Museum of Modern Art and the Swedish Museum of Architecture in Stockholm, the Stockholmsbörsen building, and the Gåshaga Brygga housing development of 41 row houses on Lidingö outside Stockholm. Across these projects, he maintained a consistent interest in the relationship between detail and whole — an approach influenced by the example of Alvar Aalto, whom Sandell has cited as a formative model for cross-disciplinary practice.

Furniture and Product Design

As a furniture designer, Sandell has collaborated with a broad range of Swedish and international manufacturers: Asplund, Källemo, Gärsnäs, Artek, B&B Italia, Cappellini, Svenskt Tenn, IKEA of Sweden, Georg Jensen, Zero Interiör and others. His furniture designs have received the Utmärkt Svensk Form award eleven times. He has also served as president of SAR, the National Association of Swedish Architects, and received multiple awards including the Red Dot Design Award and the ROT-award, which he has won three times.

https://www.sandellsandberg.se

Design by Thomas Sandell @ scandinaviandesign:

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