Designer · Austria, Sweden · 1885–1967
Josef Frank
Josef Frank (1885–1967) – Austrian-Swedish architect and designer, principal designer at Stockholm’s Svenskt Tenn from 1934 until his death.
About the designer
- Lifetime
- 1885–1967
- Country
- Austria, Sweden
- Manufacturers
- Svenskt Tenn
Josef Frank was born on 15 July 1885 in Baden near Vienna. He studied architecture at the Vienna Polytechnic, and from 1919 lectured at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule. In 1925, he founded the interior design firm Haus & Garten with Oskar Wlach. He designed a semi-detached house at the Weissenhofsiedlung estate in Stuttgart (1927), villas in Falsterbo, Sweden, and, together with Wlach, Villa Beer in Vienna (1929–1930). In 1928, he was among the co-founders of CIAM.
In 1934, he began collaborating with Estrid Ericson and Svenskt Tenn, a collaboration that lasted until the end of his life. He designed furniture, lamps, glass and textiles – more than 200 of his designs were created for the company. Notable furniture includes the Liljevalchs sofa (1934) and model 881 cabinet from 1938. Svenskt Tenn showed his work at world fairs in Paris (1937) and New York (1939), where Swedish interiors became known as “Swedish Modern”.
In 1939, Frank became a Swedish citizen, and in 1965 received the Austrian State Prize for Architecture. He died on 8 January 1967 in Stockholm. In 2015–2016, Vienna’s MAK dedicated an exhibition, “Against Design”, to him.
Key designs
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House at Weissenhofsiedlung
Semi-detached house.
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Villa Beer
Joint design with Oskar Wlach.
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Liljevalchs sofa
Sofa.
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Cabinet 881
So-called “Nationalmusei-cabinet”.
