Orchestra Chair
NO GA
Launch
6/10/2024
NO GA introduce the iconic Orchestra Chair by Sven Markelius
The iconic Orchestra Chair was originally designed in 1931 by the Swedish architect Sven Markelius, and is now launched by NO GA in close collaboration with the Markelius family. At the same time NO GA also lunch the dining table Nockeby, designed by Markelius for his own house in 1930.
Sven Markelius (1889–1972) was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century and played a significant role in the introduction of functionalism in Sweden. He was also a skilled designer and often drew the interiors and furniture for his buildings.
The Orchestra chair, which was the first stackable chair to be produced in Sweden, was originally designed for the world-famous Helsingborg Concert Hall that Markelius designed in 1931. Since then it has been so widely used that most Swedes would recognise it.
Orchestra Chairs in Helsingborg Concert Hall, designed by Sven Markelius in 1931.
Markelius had taken inspiration from the 1929 birch stacking chair 611 designed by his friends Alvar Aalto and Otto Korhonen in Finland. They gave Markelius permission to use their chair as inspiration for his version. The Orchestra Chair was manufactured and produced by the Bodafors factory in Sweden for more than 30 years. Due to the many copies on the market back then, and in order to be able to compete on price, Bodafors offered four different versions of the chair, which they produced simultaneously in different price categories. Because of this, there are some differences between the chairs found at the auction houses today.
Around the same time as designing the Orchestra Chair, Markelius made the Nockeby dining table for his own house, which was one of the first Swedish functionalist residential buildings to be built in reinforced concrete. The house received a lot of attention in Sweden as well as internationally. The table came to mean a lot to Markelius and followed him throughout his life; when he moved on to the radical collective house he designed on John Ericssonsgatan in Stockholm in 1935, and later on when he moved to a house in Danderyd, where he lived until his death in 1972.
Amoeba Table – Paul T. Frankl for NO GA
Nordiska Galleriet has been a leading design destination in Sweden since its inception in 1912. As early as 1967, it produced its first piece of furniture, the Family Sofa, designed by Italian architect Tobia Scarpa. Today, the company has resumed the tradition and its own NO GA collection now includes the Nockeby orchestra chair and table by Sven Markelius, as well as the Amoeba table designed by architect Paul T. Frankl in the late 1940s. The table is considered one of Paul T. Frankl's masterpieces and is a true mid-century modernist icon.
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