Axel Einar Hjorth1888–1959
Axel Einar Hjorth was a renowned Swedish furniture designer, born in 1888 near Norrköping, Sweden. He moved to Stockholm at the age of 20 and began his career in furniture design in the early 1920s. Hjorth worked with several leading companies including H. Joop & Co, Jonssons, Myrstedt & Stern, and briefly for Nordiska Kompaniet under architect Carl Bergsten. During this period, he also started a long-standing collaboration with Stockholm’s Stads Hantverksförening (Stockholm Craft Association), which lasted until 1929.
Hjorth quickly gained recognition as one of the most important figures in Swedish modernism and Art Deco-inspired furniture design. Representing Sweden at international fairs, he helped promote contemporary Swedish decorative arts worldwide. His work was sleek, innovative, and often blended modernist ideals with traditional craftsmanship, inspiring a new generation of Nordic designers.
In 1927, Hjorth was appointed chief architect and designer at Nordiska Kompaniet, one of Sweden’s most prestigious department stores and luxury furniture producers. For more than a decade, he created iconic interiors and furniture collections, exhibiting both nationally and internationally. His designs were prominently featured at the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, a landmark event that solidified Sweden’s reputation in modernist design. Hjorth also undertook prestigious commissions, including interiors for the Shah of Persia and Nordiska Kompaniet’s Paris store.
After leaving Nordiska Kompaniet in 1938, Hjorth established his own design practice. By the late 1940s, he also served as chief designer for ASKI, balancing this role alongside his own architectural office until the mid-1950s. His career left a lasting legacy in Nordic design, bridging the elegance of Art Deco with the functionality of Nordic modernism.
Axel Einar Hjorth passed away in June 1959, leaving behind a body of work that continues to be celebrated in museums, exhibitions, and the international design market. Today, his furniture designs are highly sought after by collectors and are recognized as defining pieces of 20th-century Swedish and Nordic furniture design.
