jonas lindvall
As an architect, a furniture and a product designer Jonas Lindvall has "quietly" established himself as a leading member of the contemporary Scandinavian design community. After graduating as an interior architect in 1993 from the Gothenburg School of Design (HDK), he continued his education by studying furniture design at the Royal College of Art in London and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
Since then Lindvall has built up a successful design office in his hometown of Malmö that has been responsible for numerous projects in Scandinavia and Japan. During this time he has also contributed a large volume of designs to the portfolios of some of Scandinavia's leading manufacturers, most notably Skandiform, de Nord and Håg.
His Beatnik furniture series originally commissioned by one of the first Japanese restaurants in Sweden* reflects Lindvall's "timeless, simplistic and elegant" approach to design; Utilising the tactile beauty of solid wood, he manages to incorporate qualities from Japanese and Scandinavian design cultures. Beatnik is an understatement in functionality with the stool designed to fit under the table when not in use thus increasing floor space. By incorporating a gentle curve in the seat of the stool, Lindvall references the slope of a traditional Japanese roof. The series has recently been updated with the addition of a black finish.
*Beatnik was originally designed for the Izakaya Koi restaurant in Lilla Torg, Malmö.