Greta Magnusson maintained a prolific forty-year career on two continents: Europe and North America and operated as mover and shaker in the male dominated world of mid-century modern design. Her achievements were many and encompassed industrial design, interior design and architecture. In 1933, having successfully completed her fellowship at the renowned Stockholm arts institution, Konstfack, she opened Studio, a combined store and workshop in Stockholm. During the same year Greta Magnusson married jazz musician, Billy Grossman with whom she later emigrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles.
Upon their arrival in California in 1940, Greta M. Grossman opened a well publicized shop on Rodeo Drive, where she was among the first to bring the Scandinavian modern aesthetic to southern California's burgeoning modernist scene. Her unique approach to Swedish modernism was an instant hit in Los Angeles and soon she attracted celebrity clients, including Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Gracie Allen, Frank Sinatra and it was not long before she began appearing alongside the likes of Charles Eames and Isamu Noguchi.
While Greta M. Grossman is the architect behind more than 15 homes spanning the globe from California to Sweden, she is most noted for her industrial designs where the Gräshoppa Floor Lamp and Cobra Table Lamp belongs to the most famous works.
Through the 1940's and 50's Greta M. Grossman exhibited her designs at museums worldwide, including MoMA in New York and The National Museum in Stockholm.
Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999)
Size H72 x W160 x D45 cm
62 dresser – 6 drawers
Size H89 x W80 x D45 cm
62 dresser – 4 drawers
Size H72 x W120 x D45 cm
62 dresser – 3 drawers
The Grossman 4-pieces furniture collection illustrates the designer's penchant for unusual pairings of material: in this instance, American walnut, which forms the main body of the pieces and powder-coated metal, used for the legs. The slender metal legs, with their ball shaped feet, contrast sharply with the wooden form, giving the furniture a characteristic appearance of lightness, the pieces almost seeming to defy gravity. A deep, black, protective full gloss finish on the desktop and additional surfaces is striking when juxtaposed to the richness of the American walnut. The furniture brings a clear sense of humor into play. The characterful desk, with its quirky asymmetric line and spindly, Martian-like metal legs, topped off with little walnut feet, seems poised to strut away. The three additional pieces: a single dresser with drawers, double dresser with drawers and double dresser with drawers and side cupboard, illustrate the elegant formal language of Grossman's singular design style.
Although she made most of his career in the United States, Greta Magnusson Grossman is a swedish designer and architect, imbued with the teachings of the founding fathers of Scandinavian design. Her lamp Grasshopper is representative of his style, at once pure and very expressive.
Materials american walnut and hight gloss black laminate
