This is more than a piece of furniture.
Countless little feet have run as fast as they possibly could to get there first and claim the best seat. The most imaginative forts have been built with its back as support. Santa has sat in it year after year. It has traveled back and forth between homes and summer houses like a natural member of the family. It has stood before the most breathtaking views, in front of crackling fires. People have curled up in it during moments filled with joy and moments filled with sorrow. It has been passed down through generations. Loved, worn, restored, and loved again. Lamino was designed in 1956 by Yngve Ekström and has since found its way into hundreds of thousands of homes around the world. It was no quick effort—the form did not come about by chance. Lamino is the result of many years of searching for the perfect curve and the simplicity the armchair embodies. Yngve designed Lamino with the human being as the starting point—just as pleasing to look at as it is to sit in.
Eleven years earlier, he and his brother Jerker had founded the furniture company Swedese in Vaggeryd, in the Småland region of Sweden. In a factory on Formvägen, where pine trees rise majestically above the brick building and lingonberry bushes sway in the wind just outside, Lamino was created. The iconic curve was shaped using bentwood technology. To this day, we continue to craft Lamino in the factory on Formvägen using the same technique that made it both light and durable back in 1956.
"Having made a good chair is perhaps not a bad life’s work."
Each year, our skilled craftsmen in Vaggeryd produce thousands of Lamino easy chairs. Thin sheets of wood veneer are pressed together in multiple layers to form the soft, organic shapes. The frames, armrests, and legs are sanded and polished until the wood is so smooth you can’t help but want to touch it. A supporting fabric is then stretched between the sides before upholsterers dress the armchair in shaggy sheepskin, fabric, or leather, and assemble the design classic with gleaming brass screws.
In 1999, Lamino was named the Furniture of the Century by the readers of the interior design magazine Sköna hem. That award says something about how this chair has become a timeless design classic with a natural place in our homes.
Lamino is more than a piece of furniture. It is filled with stories and memories. It is Yngve’s life’s work, it recalls someone’s grandmother, it is a moment of comfort, it is rest, and it is an embodiment of Swedish design.
