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| Folke Arström |
He opened his own studio in 1934 and is known for some of his beautiful Art Deco pieces, including a beautiful chrome and bakelite cocktail shaker he created while he worked for Guldsmedsaktiebolaget (GAB) in Stockholm from 1936 to 1949. He also designed for Edlund's Silver Factory Ltd. (BHE) in Stockholm during that time.
In 1940 he took a position creative manager with A. B. Gense, where he worked for the next 20 years. Gense is an abbreviation of Gustaf Eriksson NySilverfabriken in Eskilstuna. The company was founded in 1856 and is still in business, although it was purchased by GAB in 1964. Gense has been making cutlery since the 1920s and is considered one of the world's largest and finest producers of stainless steel products.
Some of Arström's best known designs are Focus De Luxe, which had a nylon handle, Facette and Attache. Gense still produces these lines today.
From vam.ac.uk and gense.se
In 1940 he took a position creative manager with A. B. Gense, where he worked for the next 20 years. Gense is an abbreviation of Gustaf Eriksson NySilverfabriken in Eskilstuna. The company was founded in 1856 and is still in business, although it was purchased by GAB in 1964. Gense has been making cutlery since the 1920s and is considered one of the world's largest and finest producers of stainless steel products.
Some of Arström's best known designs are Focus De Luxe, which had a nylon handle, Facette and Attache. Gense still produces these lines today.
From vam.ac.uk and gense.se
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| Art Deco cocktail shaker modernism.com |
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| Thebe cocktail shaker for Gense pafemtevaningen.com |
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| Tin tea set deconet.com |
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| Attache gense.se |
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| Attache gense.se |
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| Focus De Luxe deconet.com |
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| Focus De Luxe salad set gense.se |
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| Facette gense.se |
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| An assortment of Arström pieces tennants.co.uk |
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| Arström hallmark mackacke.com |
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| Gense mark from the 1950s minttheshop.com |
Thanks for including the hallmark; I am always digging through bins of flatware at the thrifts looking for cool pieces.
ReplyDeleteThere's no telling how much great stuff I've passed by over the years, simply because I didn't recognize the mark or the name of the company. There's so much to know!
DeleteOh, my Mom would love these pieces. She loves anything Swedish (she was born there, even though her parents are Hungarian) and, of course, favors mid-century design. The tin tea set and salad servers are my favorites. Such elegant looking designs.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to find a set of the salad servers for myself. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Joe thought this one was somewhat boring, since some of the pieces are Art Deco, some (like the Attache silver) are fairly traditional in shape, and some, he thought, looked like something you could find at Ikea. When viewed historically, however, I find Arström's work very interesting. The Attache was very simple...some might say stark...when compared with flatware that had come before. And it's because of designers like this that we even have Ikea!
DeleteI really like the Focus Delight silverware, so sleek and modern.
ReplyDeleteI really like it too. I bet that nylon handle was considered really snazzy when it first came out.
DeleteI bet you're right!
ReplyDeleteGeez, I can't believe I wrote "Focus Delight" instead of "Deluxe." Lol
It's because you were thinking about how delightful the design is. Duh! LOL You so rarely make a mistake that I actually thought it was rather endearing.
DeleteReally, though, don't you hate it when you do that? I always notice that I've made a typo or misspelled something on somebody's blog in that split second after hitting Publish...before it posts but too late to do anything about it. Being the slightly (ahem!) obsessive person that I am, it drives me nuts, even though I'm sure I'm the only one who cares at all!