c/o Dalsland
The Dalsland Chair
A Swedish Design Icon
The Dalsland chair is a light and beautiful dining room piece dating back to the 19th century. With its perfect balance of folk and empire, it feels both classic, timeless and actually a bit trendy. For the people of Dalsland, it is a design icon, but unfortunately it is no longer manufactured. We intend to change that. Join us on the journey!
Local and sustainable production of Dalsland chairs
It is said that Dalsland is Sweden's most forgotten landscape. This also applies to the things and defines Dalsland. The Dalsland chair, like the Dalslands bull, the straw hat, and the Dalsland cottage, is a cultural treasure that needs care so as not to fall into oblivion. The goal of this project is to start a local and sustainable new production of Dalsland chairs.
Help us build Dalsland chairs!
Want to help? Here are three ways you can contribute:
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Take a photo of your Dalsland chair! Tell us what you know about it and send it to us !
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Donate a coin! Once we have raised 30,000, we can apply for development support.
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Please suggest collaborations! We need local timber, craftsmen and distributors.
NOTE: Everyone who contributes will be added to our email list and will receive priority for chairs once we have started production.
OBS. Du behöver inte ha
Pay Pal för att betala. Det räcker med betalkort.
Med 30 000 kr kan vi söka utvecklingsstöd på 300 000 kr. Med pengarna kan vi ingå samarbete med lokal producent och utveckla en färdig produkt. Pengarna kommer också gå till marknadsföring och annat som krävs för att nå i mål.
The history of the Dalsland chair
Part of the project will be to compile the history of the Dalsland chair. We will continuously update this page with more and better information about the chair. What we know today is:
The chair was probably first designed for Baldersnäs Manor. The carpenters at Baldersnäs then borrowed the design and made chairs for the farms around Dalsland.
The spread of the Dalsland chair among ordinary people in Dalsland coincided with an era when the people of Dalsland became better off. The boom in Dalsland was due to the Napoleonic Wars, which pushed up oat prices, to the great joy of the oat farmers. Later, there was also a "lawful change", where small farms were allowed to merge into larger and more efficient farms.
This meant that people could afford to build two-story cottages, so-called Dalsland cottage. And in them, benches and stump chairs were replaced with the fine Dalsland chairs. The chairs were often placed against the wall in everyday life and were taken out at parties. What happened to the Dalsland chairs afterwards is something we will have to research further. What we do know is that it became popular again after the Second World War, perhaps because of the green wave that made the rural back in fashion. A decisive factor was also “Lille Karl” Andersson in Myreskog in Dalskog who, until the 1970s, manufactured 4,000 Dalsland chairs in the workshop from his home. This means that it is still relatively easy to find a Dalsland chairs at flea markets and auctions.
The design of the Dalsland chair
Typical of the Dalsland chair are the curved legs and back, as well as the roundel of the back plate flanked by bands with cockades on the back of the chair.
The chair's design style is called Empire, specifically Biedermeier, and originates from the Karl Johan era in the second half of the 19th century. The inspiration comes from England, Lord Nelson and the Trafalgar chair from the early 19th century.
One thing that distinguishes the Dalsland chair from other chairs from the same style era is its simplicity. Similar Empire and Beidermeier chairs made in Stockholm for a well-off bourgeoisie were made of Mahogany or alder and fitted with a rattan seat. Early examples of the Dalsland chair had a rattan seat. But since rattan tends to wear out, it has later been replaced with or newly manufactured with a simple wooden seat. The Dalsland chair is made of birch wood and is light in weight and expression. It is also simple in its construction, but still has some of the joy of carpentry and stateliness. This makes it easy to like - especially in a Swedish context where "lagom" (medium) is an ideal.
Let us know!
Would you like to contribute knowledge about the Dalsland chair, collaborate with us or recommend someone we should contact who can contribute to the project?
Phone 0703 619015 Erik Normark