Scandinavian design is the smallest part of our collection and the most tightly documented. Assembly holds a focused group of Danish, Swedish and Finnish pieces in our Al Quoz showroom in Dubai, including one of the best attributed objects we have ever sold.
Why the group is small
We buy in person, mostly in Italy and Turkey, so Italian work dominates what we hold. Scandinavian pieces arrive less often and we take them when they are right rather than filling a category for the sake of it. If you are looking for a specific Danish piece, tell us and we will watch for it.
The Poul Kjaerholm PK11
Designed in 1957 and made by E. Kold Christensen, the Danish manufacturer who produced Kjaerholm's work from 1955 until the rights moved on. That detail is the whole point: the PK11 has been made by more than one company, and the Kold Christensen production is the one collectors look for.
Kjaerholm trained as a cabinetmaker and then worked almost entirely in steel, which puts him slightly apart from the teak and oak tradition most people picture when they hear Danish modern. The PK11 is a steel frame with a wooden back rail and a leather or cane seat, and it is as much an engineering object as a chair. Read more on the Poul Kjaerholm page.
What else we hold
Around fifteen pieces carry a Scandinavian attribution or origin. They currently include an Arne Jacobsen Egg armchair, a Verner Panton Wire Cone chair from Denmark, an ML-214 Danish lounge chair and ottoman, a J140 rocking chair, Finnish seating, and Swedish lighting and sofas in teak.
Because the group turns over, the fastest way to see what is actually here is Seating, which is where most of it sits.
How to tell a good Scandinavian piece
Wood first
Teak, oak and rosewood were used because of how they age, not because they were cheap. Look at the grain on the arms and the back, where decades of hands have polished it. That depth cannot be faked with stain.
Joinery, not screws
The tradition is cabinetmaking. Finger joints, dowels and shaped transitions where two pieces meet are the sign of it. Visible screws through a joint usually mean a later repair.
The maker's mark
Danish pieces of this period were often stamped by the cabinetmaker as well as the manufacturer. The mark is usually under the seat or on the underside of a rail. Where one exists on a piece we hold, we photograph it.
Scandinavian against Italian
They solve the same problem differently. Italian mid century work of the same decades is more sculptural, more willing to be dramatic, and more often built in steel, glass and moulded form. Scandinavian work is quieter, warmer, and built around wood and proportion.
In a Dubai apartment the practical difference is light. Italian pieces hold their own in a bright, hard edged room. Scandinavian pieces soften one. If you are furnishing a whole space, a mix of the two usually works better than either alone.
See mid century modern for the Italian side, or vintage furniture in Dubai for everything we hold.
