Pop design pioneer and Sonja Henie’s favourite designer

«Dysthe Design. Swinging 60» honours Sven Ivar Dysthe’s 60-year career as one of Norway’s most prominent designers of the post-war era. With his international orientation, the award-winning designer has distinguished himself in Norwegian design circles. He revolutionised ski bindings and his stackable Laminette chair has achieved sales in excess of 900,000.

Sven Ivar Dysthe (born 1931) got his career off to an impressive start when, as a student at the Royal College of Art in London, he was commissioned to design a wooden casket as the college’s coronation gift to Queen Elizabeth in 1953.

He has since made a name for himself in international design with export successes such as 1001, Planet and Laminette, in which interest remains strong to this day. His chair designs under the names Planet (1965), Laminette (1967), Popcorn (1968) and Prisma (1968) have all been relaunched in recent years.

Dysthe arrived like a breath of fresh air in the world of Norwegian design. He was instrumental in placing Norway on the world map at a time when the country was gaining little attention abroad. Norwegian design and Norwegian furniture have often been criticised for being too “Norwegian”, in the sense that it was unwieldy, ungainly and provincial. With his international vision, Dysthe helped to remould that image. He introduced a style that was still Norwegian, yet with clear international references.

His first major success, the 1001 armchair for Dokka Møbler from 1960 in black leather, steel tubing and rosewood, was far removed from the weighty armchairs previously seen in Norway. In 1964 he introduced the first rounded chair in Norway, the hemispherical Planet, which when placing two of them together formed a complete sphere.

Dysthe designed a similar chair called Popcorn, in fibre-glass reinforced polyester and produced at the same factory, for the Henie-Onstad Art Centre. At the opening of the Art Centre in 1968, figure-skating champion Sonja Henie in white mink cape seated herself in the white, lightweight chair.

In connection with the exhibition, an extensive and lavishly illustrated book in English and Norwegian is being published that for the first time covers Dysthe’s design output over the last 60 years in its entirety. Editor: Widar Halén. Authors: Trinelise Dysthe, Thomas Flor and Widar Halén.

Contact information:

Widar Halén, director of design & decorative arts and curator, tel.: +47 41291849, Widar.halen@nasjonalmuseet.no

Thomas Flor, curator, tel.: +47 95773890, Thomas.Flor@nasjonalmuseet.no

Wenche Thiis-Evensen, project coordinator, tel.:+47 98676303, wenche.thiis-evensen@nasjonalmuseet.no

Cathrine Lorange, curator education, tel.: +47 41570302, cathrine.lorange@nasjonalmuseet.no