(smow) blog compact IMM Cologne Special: String

In 1949 the Swedish publishing house Bonniers folkbibliotek organised a competition asking for designs for a bookcase system that was easy to ship, easy to assemble and easily affordable.

The background is fairly obvious: the more book storage space your average Swede has, the more books they can buy.

In the late 1940s the Swedish Industrial Designer Nils Strinning had enjoyed notable success with plastic coated steel wire designs – first as crockery drying racks and subsequently as storage racks and baskets for use within wardrobes. And so on hearing about the competition he, somewhat logically, decided to develop a bookcase system from plastic coated steel wire.

And promptly won the competition.

And unwittingly gifted the world with a genuine design classic.

As a product the String bookcase system immediately caught the public’s imagination, stirred their fascination and in the 1950s and 60s it was widely sold throughout Europe; however, and as with so much pre-1970s design, the advance of post modernism, new aesthetics and the rise of a new moneyed, youthful middle class looking to establish their own accent left the String shelving system looking jaded and from the 1980s onwards it was largely reduced to a product that only existed as copies.

We for example, can’t name a single East German who isn’t familiar with the DDR “String” system.

Today however String with its light, uncluttered, untroubled nonchalance is undergoing a renaissance, and in those trendier vintage furniture shops in Berlin Mitte one can find old String shelves and supports stacked up waiting for an errant graphic designer.

The modern String system is however more than just that which Nils Strinning developed and today includes, in addition to the basic shelves and magazine racks of the first system, cabinets, glass cabinets, chests, tables and storage bowls. Developments that, if you will, accentuate the modularity of the String system.

In addition the product range has been expanded by so-called String Pockets, smaller, brightly coloured versions that can be used as an object in their own right rather than as components of a modular system.

For a while it looked as if the String system was heading towards an inglorious end as an entry in our Lost Furniture Design Classics series. We’re delighted it hasn’t.

A few impressions from String at IMM Cologne 2014.

String @ IMM Cologne 2014

String @ IMM Cologne 2014

String @ IMM Cologne 2014

String @ IMM Cologne 2014