Scandinavian Style
WALL STREET JOURNALBy Stephen Whitlock
A visit to the Modernity store in Stockholm is like a crash course in modern design, with museum-quality work by the best known Scandinavian designers, including Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton and Torun Bylow-Hube, plus a few outsiders, such as Americans Ray and Charles Eames and Scotsman Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The man behind this store devoted to mid-20th century Scandinavian furniture, ceramics and glass isn’t Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish. He is Scottish. Andrew Duncanson opened Modernity in the Old Town in 1998; in 2003 he moved to more spacious premises in the swanky Östermalm neighbourhood (Sibyllegatan 6, Stockholm; 46-8-20 80 25; info@modernity.se ). Close by are two other shops for fans of Scandinavian style: Asplund (Sibyllegatan 31; 46-8-662 52 84), which sells new pieces by mostly Swedish designers, and Gamla Lampor (Nybrogatan 3; 46-8-661 90 35 ), which lives up to its name, Old lamps.