For several years now, the sobriety of Scandinavian furniture has been making its way into our homes: the light-coloured woods of Scandinavian design are seductive. But how did this trend come to us?

A movement initiated in the 1930s

Let's start with the beginning. Scandinavian decoration as we know it (and as many love it) today was born in the 1930s under the influence of modernism. Modernism is characterised by an extreme simplification of lines and shapes, but also by a concern for functionality. Our northern cousins added the naturalness of the materials, especially wood. In terms of colour, the Finnish or Danish inspiration does not lead us in any way towards the gloom of white and grey, but towards the rich palette offered by nature in the course of the seasons: grass green, ice blue, sunshine yellow, light pink, etc. Scandinavian design has its pioneers, for example Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen (the creator of the ant chair) and Poul Henningsen (the "master of light"). In the 1950s and 1960s, they attracted attention far beyond their own borders.

Functionality and simplicity

When one thinks of Scandinavian design, the first word that comes to mind is often simplicity. It could also be described as pure if this word did not refer to a certain lack of conviviality. On the contrary, Scandinavian decoration revolves first and foremost around the ideas of family life and a warm interior. Simplicity is born of the hunt for the superfluous and is coupled with another requirement, that of functionality, under the benevolent gaze of a man named Luther. Scandinavian furniture is above all practical.

A decoration that seduced the world

It is difficult to deny the role of a major Swedish brand in the current influence of Scandinavian decoration on the rest of Europe (and the Western world). Above all, it has democratised this particular design and its success is also due to a deeper aspiration of our societies towards a return to simpler values, without forgetting the growing importance given to environmental protection. In this respect, if you dream of a Scandinavian interior, there is no need to book a dump truck to get rid of all your old furniture. On the contrary, the spirit of the north infuses us with an ecological breeze, one that pushes us to recycle rather than throw away. Granted, you may have to use a little imagination...