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Modern Art + Design presents a collection of luminaires by Nordiska Kompaniet


Nordiska Kompaniet's Lighting Department

– Bukowskis is proud to present a unique collection of lighting fixtures from Nordiska Kompaniet.


Alongside Nordiska Kompaniet's (NK) renowned furniture department led by Axel Einar Hjorth, there existed a thriving lighting department that is relatively unknown today. This fall, Bukowskis will share the story of NK's lighting department, which held a prominent position during Sweden's golden age of design from the 1920s to the 1950s. They created fixtures for various important interiors and exhibitions of the time.

Nordiska Kompaniet is an integral part of Swedish design history. The brand was founded in 1902, and merely two years later, in 1904, NK's factories were established in Nyköping. These factories played a pivotal role in the company's success, contributing to the renowned quality that would define NK's reputation. Employing around 500 workers, the factories became the largest industry in Nyköping.




> Luminaires from the collection, Nordiska Kompaniet, 1920 – 50-talet.



In NK's factories, a wide range of fixtures, including custom-made and mass-produced options, were designed by the company's leading lighting architects, including Erik Tidstrand, Bertil Brisborg, Olle Elmgren, and others. In addition to creating fixtures for department stores, they were also involved in prestigious interior design projects, producing lighting fixtures for significant locations like Stockholm City Hall, the Concert Hall, the American Line flagship M/S Kungsholm, Tändstickspalatset, as well as renowned restaurants, theaters, and cinemas. The collection being presented at Modern Art + Design spans from the 1920s to the 1950s and exemplifies distinctive styles of the era, such as Swedish Grace and Swedish Modern.


NK's lighting department - a hidden treasure

NK's lighting department quickly rose to become a pioneering fixtures company in Sweden, ushering in a new era of innovative designs and modern aesthetics. These fixtures were prominently displayed on the third floor, while a small workshop for manufacturing and assembly of lamps was also located within the department store.


> Window facing Hamngatan, 1934.



In the 1920s, Nordiska Kompaniet initiated a collaboration with Orrefors, the leading art glass manufacturer of the time. NK's architects, Erik Tidstrand and Olle Elmgren, partnered with Orrefors' designers, Simon Gate and Edward Hald, to create exclusive lighting fixtures for public spaces, as well as for NK's and Orrefors' own product lines. This collaboration led to a range of fixtures, including those for the Concert Hall in Stockholm and M/S Kungsholm, among others. Orrefors was responsible for crafting the glass details and shades, while Erik Tidstrand and his team at NK designed and constructed the fixtures. These were then produced in the metal factories in Nyköping.


> An architect at his drawing table in NK's factories and NK's lighting catalogue, 1938.


The most significant lighting architects

Erik Tidstrand

Erik Tidstrand (1876-1944) was the head of NK's lighting department from 1901 until his retirement in 1943. He began his career at Leja and KM Lundberg, which later merged to form Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) in 1902. Tidstrand is considered one of the most significant lighting architects in Swedish lighting history during the first half of the 20th century. Examples of his successful collaborations include Ivar Tengbom's fixtures for the Concert Hall and the Tändstickspalatset, and Carl Bergsten's interior design for the passenger ship M/S Kungsholm. Another notable collaboration was the lighting he developed in partnership with NK's chief architect, Axel Einar Hjorth, for the interior design of Tössebageriet and Centrum-huset in Stockholm.

Tidstrand's fixtures were showcased at numerous prestigious national and international exhibitions during the first half of the 20th century, a period when Swedish Grace was the prevailing design ideal. These exhibitions included the 1925 World Exhibition in Paris, the 1929 World Exhibition in Barcelona, the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition, the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris, and many more.



Bertil Brisborg

Another designer who significantly influenced the company's design style was Bertil Brisborg (1910-1993), who served as the head of NK's lighting department from 1941, likely until the mid-1960s. He ushered the company into a new era and emerged as a prominent figure in shaping the new style ideals and aesthetics that we now recognize as Swedish Modern. One of the defining aspects of Brisborg's creations was his pioneering use of leather in lighting fixtures during the early 1940s, a groundbreaking development in Scandinavian lighting manufacturing at the time.

For the NK-Hantverk exhibition in 1947, Brisborg designed an entire collection that featured leather as a decorative material for table lamps, floor lamps, and even ceiling lamps. Brisborg led the development of the Triva fixture collection and designed several innovative fixtures throughout the 1940s and 1950s.



Olle Elmgren

Olle Elmgren (1894-1985) was a lighting architect at Nordiska Kompaniet from 1923 until his retirement in the 1960s. He worked alongside Erik Tidstrand and Bertil Brisborg and played a significant role in the development of NK's lighting fixtures. Elmgren is best known for his interior projects within churches and cinemas, but he also left his mark on prestigious projects such as the interior design of M/S Kungsholm and Ivar Kreuger's bank palace in Paris, as well as the creation of fixtures for the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. Despite his long career, Elmgren is rarely mentioned for his designs. In depictions of Nordiska Kompaniet, he is typically portrayed as a reserved individual who primarily operated behind the scenes.



The collection from Nordiska Kompaniet will be sold at Modern Art & Design

Viewing: November 9 – 14, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Open: weekdays 11 am – 6 pm, weekends 11 am – 4 pm
Live Auktion: November 15 – 16, Arsenalsgatan 2, Stockholm

Discover the full catalogue



Luminaires by Nordiska Kompaniet

197. Erik Tidstrand, a floor lamp, Nordiska Kompaniet, 1929-30.
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197. Erik Tidstrand, a floor lamp, Nordiska Kompaniet, 1929-30.
Hammer price 
34 000 SEK
Estimate
20 000 - 25 000 SEK
229. Bertil Brisborg, a table lamp, Nordiska Kompaniet, 1940s.
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229. Bertil Brisborg, a table lamp, Nordiska Kompaniet, 1940s.
Hammer price 
19 000 SEK
Estimate
15 000 - 20 000 SEK


Condition report & requests Contact category specialist

Jonatan Jahn
Stockholm
Jonatan Jahn
Head Specialist Contemporary and Modern Design
+46 (0)703 92 88 60
Camilla Behrer
Stockholm
Camilla Behrer
Head of Design/ Specialist Modern & Contemporary Decorative Art & Design
+46 (0)708 92 19 77
Eva Seeman
Stockholm
Eva Seeman
Chief Specialist Modern and Contemporary Decorative art and design
+46 (0)708 92 19 69