Knut Fjaestad
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A Knut Fjaestad Art Nouveau sculptured pine table, Sweden ca 1900.
Height 64,5 cm, the top circa 66 x 67 cm.
Dry cracks, reinforced underneath the top.
Provenance
The Fjaestad family
More information
Knut Fjaestad (1860-1937) var en äldre bror till Gustaf Fjaestad. I hela sitt vuxna liv skulpterade Knut i furu på fria stunder.
Av ursprungligen fem barn i familjen Fjaestad var Knut näst äldst och Gustaf yngst.
Fadern var född i Norge och kom att utbilda sig till skomakare i Paris. Vid återvändandet till Sverige stannade fadern i Stockholm och kom att bli hovskomakare till Drottning Desirée. Skomakeriet hade som mest ett trettiotal anställda.
Så småningom lät Knut köpa en fastighet i Gamla Stan, på Västerlånggatan, där han först både bodde och öppnade syateljé- konfektionsbutik/modebutik.
År 1907 köpte Knut med familj hus vid Skärsätra Gård på Lidingö, en 1700-talsfastighet som han kom att renovera med varsam hand. Hans hustru dog redan år 1912.
På 1920-talet startade Knut Fjaestad en firma för vintillverkning av svenska bär och blev snart Kunglig Hovleverantör. Man gjorde både rödvin och vin av Madeiratyp. Vinet kallades ”Bjälbo-tappning” och tillverkningen var mycket framgångsrik men med andra världskrigets utbrott och därmed påföljande sockerbrist var man tvungen att lägga ned tillverkningen.
Knut Fjaestad blev Lidingö trogen livet ut och bodde kvar i samma hus.
Vid sidan av sitt stora entreprenörskap tycks Knut ha älskat att på lediga stunder skulptera och snida i trä, framför allt i furu.
Knut och brodern Gustaf Fjaestad stod varandra nära, det är svårt att säga vem av bröderna som initialt började att skulptera möblerna i den egenartade, naturalistiska jugendstil som båda bröderna arbetade i.
Den tidigaste kända stabbestolen av Gustaf Fjaestad är daterad 1894 (Bukowskis Moderna katalog 553, katalognr 709, oktober 2009).
Sannolikt var det Gustaf Fjaestad som inspirerade Knut
Efter år 1907 och flytten till Lidingö fick Knut i alla händelser större möjligheter att med egen verkstad på gården att arbeta med sitt skulpterande, något han fortsatte med livet ut, framför allt i form av möbler i olika slag. Hans mästerverk, en tronstol i fullfjädrad jugend, tog honom hela sju år att färdigställa.
Designer
Knut Fjaestad (1860-1937) was an older brother of Gustaf Fjaestad. Throughout his adult life, Knut sculpted in pine during his free moments. Of the originally five children in the Fjaestad family, Knut was the second oldest and Gustaf the youngest. The father was born in Norway and trained as a shoemaker in Paris. Upon returning to Sweden, he settled in Stockholm and became the royal shoemaker to Queen Desirée. The shoemaking business had as many as thirty employees at its peak.
Eventually, Knut had a property purchased in Gamla Stan, on Västerlånggatan, where he initially both lived and opened a sewing studio - a clothing store/fashion shop. In 1907, Knut and his family bought a house at Skärsätra Gård on Lidingö, a 17th-century property that he carefully renovated. His wife passed away as early as 1912.
In the 1920s, Knut Fjaestad started a company for wine production from Swedish berries and soon became a Royal Court Supplier. They produced both red wine and Madeira-style wine. The wine was called "Bjälbo-tappning," and the production was very successful, but with the outbreak of World War II and the subsequent sugar shortage, they were forced to cease production.
Knut Fjaestad remained loyal to Lidingö for the rest of his life and continued to live in the same house. Alongside his significant entrepreneurial ventures, Knut seems to have loved to sculpt and carve in wood during his free time, primarily in pine.
Knut and his brother Gustaf Fjaestad were close, and it is difficult to say which of the brothers initially began to sculpt the furniture in the distinctive, naturalistic Art Nouveau style that both brothers worked in. The earliest known stabbestol (a type of chair) by Gustaf Fjaestad is dated 1894 (Bukowskis Moderna catalogue 553, catalogue no. 709, October 2009).
It was likely Gustaf Fjaestad who inspired Knut. After 1907 and the move to Lidingö, Knut certainly had greater opportunities to work on his sculpting with his own workshop on the estate, something he continued throughout his life, primarily in the form of various types of furniture. His masterpiece, a throne chair in fully developed Art Nouveau style, took him as long as seven years to complete.
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