From Linné to Svenskt Tenn:

In 1930, Estrid Ericson visited Carl von Linné’s summer residence, Hammarby, outside Uppsala. By then, Linné (1707–1778) — Sweden’s most renowned scientist, originally Carl Linnaeus before being ennobled as von Linné in 1757 — had long since passed away. The estate had been preserved as a museum under Uppsala University since the 19th century, and its interiors remained largely intact. Visitors could still experience the environment in which Linné had taught and carried out his research.

Linné is best remembered for classifying living organisms into species and giving them names, creating clear, reliable systems that grouped plants and animals in ways that profoundly shaped the natural sciences. The walls of Linné’s summer residence were covered with botanical engravings — precise studies once used for teaching. Ericson found herself deeply captivated by them.

Years later, when she began collaborating with Josef Frank at Svenskt Tenn, these images resurfaced in her memory. Together, they found a way to weave Linné’s world of plants into furniture. Frank, already passionate about natural motifs, suggested using illustrations from Nordens Flora by C.A. Lindman.

Published in the early 1900s, Nordens Flora was a richly illustrated botanical atlas that combined Lindman’s scientific text with detailed drawings by Axel Ekblom. It reissued and expanded upon J.W. Palmstruch’s earlier Svensk Botanik, presenting Nordic plants in a way that was both accurate and visually compelling.

Instead of fabric or wallpaper, Frank and Ericson used these prints directly on furniture, employing the traditional technique of decoupage. Sheets from the atlas were carefully cut and glued to the wooden surfaces before being sealed with varnish.

This process transformed each chest of drawers or cabinet into more than functional Scandinavian furniture. Each became a unique artwork: no two pieces were ever the same, as the placement of images varied from one to the next. A spray of wildflowers might stretch across a drawer in one piece, while on another, a fern or meadow herb took centre stage. The rhythm and composition depended as much on the craftsperson’s hand as on Frank’s design.

The result was the Flora series, including the celebrated chest of drawers model 1050. These works occupy a special place in Scandinavian modernism and the history of Swedish furniture design: objects that combine practicality with the beauty of botanical art. Just as Linné once catalogued the plants of the North, Frank and Ericson gave them a second life — not confined to the pages of a book, but across the surfaces of furniture that could be touched, lived with, and admired every day.

The Flora chest embodies the ideals of Swedish modern furniture, where craftsmanship, natural inspiration, and artistic detail merge. Today it remains one of Josef Frank’s most recognisable contributions to 20th century Scandinavian modern furniture. Highly sought after in the world of collectible design, it represents the timeless vision of Josef Frank Svenskt Tenn, a designer and a company who together shaped the identity of Nordic modernism.