In honor of String's anniversary, we tell the whole story of the famous shelf from the moment of its birth until today. Read what happened in seventy-five years:
Sweden lived a the golden age of books in the late 1940s.
Every smallest village had its own bookstore, which people diligently used.
As the books took over the shelves and corners, it was noticed that no kind of storage place had been found for the books.
One of Sweden's largest publishers,
Bonniers Folkbibliotek
decided to respond to this demand by organizing a bookshelf competition in 1949.
194 different proposals from different parts of the world, even as far as from USA and Australia, participated in the bookshelf competition. The competition was looking for a bookshelf that would be wall-mounted, affordable and extendable as needed. One of the shelves that participated in the competition was called String.
The String shelf was designed by Nils (“Nisse”) and his wife Kajsa Strinning. Their shelf consisted of only three parts: blue wall panels, pine shelves and metal brackets.
The String shelf won the tough bookshelf competition and it started the successful story of String shelves.
String quickly became known in Sweden and in less than a year more than 40,000 shelf units were sold. Today,
the 75-year-old String product family is known all over the world and has expanded into a versatile shelving system that can find solutions for every space in the home.
Kajsa (1922-2017) and Nils "Nisse" Strinning (1917-2006)
After the win, the String shelf got column space in several interior design magazines, it was wanted to be displayed at fairs and events.
Over the years, the shelf won awards and big men wanted it in their headquarters all the way to New York.
Thanks to the hard sales income, Nisse was able to buy himself a typewriter and a car.
Hundreds of copies of the String shelf were made in the 1950s. As they say, "imitation" is the greatest form of flattery.
Finally, in 1961, the shelves got legal protection.
The early 1970s were a difficult time for String. Simplicity and straight lines had to give way to bright colors and rich shapes.
Sales fell and before
the highly valued shelves
were relegated from the parade grounds of homes
to children's rooms and garages.
In 1985, the Swedish auction house Bukowskis made a bold move by holding
"Nisse Strinning exhibition". The String shelf was advertised as a design classic and people wondered
how such an everyday product deserved an exhibition.
In retrospect, it can be said that the Bukowskis' intuition turned out to be correct, because soon the designer couple was seen again in a new light.
It was 2004 when Ulrika and Peter Erlandsson opened a small design store in southern Sweden. A customer walked into the store and asked where he could get a String shelf.
The owners had no idea, but they set out to find out. After the research work, it became clear to Peter that at some point the production of String had been stopped and the manufacturer had been declared bankrupt.
As if on a whim, Peter contacted the bankruptcy administrator and asked if he could start production again. He also found himself asking if he could buy the rights to a String production.
The guardian instructed to contact Nisse Strinning. Peter quickly contacted his partner Pär Josefsson and after a couple of weeks they visited Strinningie's door.
Nisse used to spend time upstairs working on his sketches and prototypes. Kajsa, on the other hand, stayed on the ground floor of the house with her drawings. But that day, the couple was waiting for the "boys" together in the kitchen with a huge freshly baked cake with the word STRING written on it in big letters .
Kajsa and Nisse joined hands with Peter and Pär in 2004 and thus the "boys" (as the Strinnings playfully called them) got the right to manufacture and sell Strings worldwide.
That was the beginning of a new chapter for String Furniture.
Today, the String System product family has been expanded with numerous colors, materials and products, several of which have been selected from Nisse's archives.
Shelves are still available with exactly the same dimensions as the original (W78, D20) and that's why you can combine old and new shelves with each other.
Production is still in Sweden, just like in 1949. String products are sent from the factory to 48 countries.
The String 1949-2024 anniversary shelf honors String by returning to its roots. The colors are the same as in the first version of the shelf; the side panels are blue and the shelves are oiled solid oak.
The jubilee shelves are numbered and there are a total of 1,949 of them
all over the world. 80 shelves were sold in Finland, and six of them are available for purchase from us. More cannot be ordered.
