Mobilia nos. 296/297
1980
Per Mollerup [Editor]
Per Mollerup [Editor]: Mobilia nos. 296/297. Snekkersten, Denmark: Mobilia, 1980. Original edition. Text in English and Danish. Perfect bound and side stapled wrappers. Unpaginated. Multiple paper stocks. Fully illustrated articles in black and white and some color. Period furniture advertisements. Tuborg/Carlsberg design programmes article has one 4-page signature bound upside down. Wrappers light worn but a very good or better copy.
10.25 x 10.18 magazine with fully illustrated articles and period furniture advertisements. The editors described their magazine thus: “Mobilia is an international subscription periodical for furniture, art, handicraft, etc. Mobilia is published in two issues, one of them in Danish and English, and the other one in Swedish and German, the text having been translated as a whole. Mobilia is issued to all members of Møbelfabrikantforeningen i Danmark [The Association of Danish Furniture manufacturers], of Møbelhandlernes Centralforening i Danmark [The Association of Furniture Dealers in Denmark], and of Indendørs Arkitekt Foreningen [The Association of Interior Architects]; in Sweden a collective subscription has been taken by Sveriges Möbelindustriförbund [The Association of Swedish Furniture Manufacturers]. “
- NEW FURNITURE: Salone del Mobile 1980
- You are what you possess by Per Mollerup
- High tech: includes work by Gae Aulenti, Bruno Brunari, Simo Heikala and Yrjö Wiherheimo, Centrokappa for Kartell, Saccardo for Thalia and Co. and by Franco Soro for DePadova
- What's the question? Includes work by Gaetano Pesce
- Bread for butter: includes work by Paolo Piva for B&B Italia, A. Cannetta & F. Spinelli, Marcello Cuneo for Arflex, Citterio & Nava for Arflex, De Pas, DiUrbino and Lomazzi for Zanotta, Acerbis Stoppino for Acerbis International, Kita Toshiyuki for Cassina, Carlo Hauner for OCA Export, Antti Nurmesniemi for Vuokko, Marcel Breuer and Peter Keler for TECTRA among many others
- New furniture: Orgatechnik 80—includes work by Wolfgang Müller-Dreissig for Vitra GmbH, Emilio Ambasz and Giancarlo Piretti for Vitra GmbH, Jørgen Rasmussen for Kevi A/S, Geoffry Harcourt for Artifort and Bruce Burdick for Vitra GmbH
- New furniture: The Permanent? Exhibition—includes work by Bernt Production: Aasbjerg + Procida, Hans J, Wegner for Johannes Hansen, Grete Jalk Production: PP Møbler & Hanne Vedel, Gunnar Aagaard Andersen for PP Møbler, Poul Volther for Preben Birch, Leif Erik Rasmussen + Henrik Rolf for Jørgen Christiansen, Erling Christoffersen for Fritz Hansens Eft., Niels Jørgen Haugese + Ojvind Nygaard, Jørgen Gammelgaard for Ivan Schlecter, Nanna Ditzel for Brdr. Krüger, Stig Herman Olsen for Niels Roth Andersen, Hans Amos Christensen for Søren Horn and Erik Krogh for M. Monsen among many others
- Newsfront: includes work by Noboru Nakamura, Niels Gammelgaard for ABS and Lindau & Lindekrantz for Zero,
- Arts & Crafts: Alvar Aalto's Wood Reliefs
- Arts & Crafts: Alan Scharf's Voliere
- Arts & Crafts: Ole Bent Petersen's Copenhagen
- Arts, Crafts and Design: The Danish Endowment for the Arts
- Graphic design: Tuborg/Carlsberg design programmes
- Industrial design: The Right Stuff [El Casco]
- Architecture: Ode to the roofing sheet
- Furniture reconsidered: J. O. Carlsson 50 Years—includes work by Karl Erik Ekselius and Jan Ekselius,
- Designers index: Christian Hvidt
- Furniture reconsidered: Gunnar Aagaard Andersen—survey of techniques and materials
- Reading: Victor Papanek: The View from Now
- What's on
In 1954 the four Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland arranged what proved to be the most important marketing effort ever for Scandinavian design—the monumental exhibition Design in Scandinavia. From 1954 to 1957 Design in Scandinavia toured the United States and Canada. The exhibition was presented in 27 cities, and it was a huge success, initiated by The Danish Society of Arts and Crafts and its sister organizations in the other participating countries.
Based on the success the four countries established what they called the Scandinavian Design Cavalcade, which had a lot of US press coverage as well. In that connection the July 1959 issue of House Beautiful was centered around The Scandinavian Look in U.S. Homes, and it was Denmark and Danish Design in particular that the magazine focussed on. Besides the editorial pages, the numerous ads illustrates that Danish modern furniture was increasingly gaining a stronghold among certain groups of American consumers.
Importers and retail chains like John Stuart Inc., George Tanier, Raymor and Dunbar etc. now sold Danish modern furniture in the US, and by now it was not only hand crafted furniture from the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibitions but also pieces from industrial furniture producers like Fritz Hansen, Søborg Møbelfabrik, Fredericia Furniture and many others. From the end of the 1950s Danish Department stores and other retailers produced comprehensive brochures and booklets in English with prices in US Dollars presenting Danish Design to American and other tourists.
Without exception, these stores all presented the narrative of Danish modern. “Denmark is known all over the world for its exquisite home furnishing, which are characterized by their outstanding design and superb craftsmanship” the department store Magasin claimed in its brochure “Danish Design.”