Hantverkarens val: Materials, Technique and Form in Furniture History (book, Swedish)

In the 16th and early 17th centuries, many of the constructions and the tool culture that still characterize furniture making today were developed. In the 18th century techniques were refined while production became more efficient, work more specialized and a new system of subcontractors was established. The industrial 19th century added more materials and many innovations that laid the foundation for 20th-century industrial furniture design. In parallel runs a history of style from the Renaissance to modernism. How does it all fit together?

The book is about materials, technique and form in the history of furniture making, and about the relationships between them. Knowledge of raw materials and production is important for anyone interpreting an old piece of furniture. Why does it look the way it does? What can be read from the tool marks, the maker's personal touch and the written sources? What choices did the craftsman make, and what were the alternatives?

The account stays close to the objects, furniture from noble, bourgeois, church and peasant settings, but also raises general questions about rationalization, division of labor, professional identity, skills, creativity and economy, then and now. The history of furniture making becomes a conversation about the conditions of material creation and about sustainability in every sense of the word.

Johan Knutsson is professor of furniture culture at Malmstens, Linköping University, and the Nordic Museum. Peter Segemark is a photographer at the Nordic Museum. In Swedish.