Mid century design; an exciting era of pared back luxury that explored design form and materials in revolutionary new ways. It was also the era where women thought or perhaps just accepted that their place in this world was to be a homemaker. Greta Magnusson-Grossman however broke through these gender barriers and lead an extremely successful career in industrial, furniture and architectural design in this, at the time, male dominated industry.
Grossman was one of the first ever women to attend and graduate from the renowned arts institute in Stockholm, Högre Konstindustriella Skolan and after a successful career beginning in furniture design in her home country, she later immigrated to Los Angeles in the United States with her jazz musician husband, Billy Grossman to open a store selling her designs and that of her Scandinavian counterparts to the Californian elite who were embracing that new way of living in droves.
We don’t quite know how difficult she fought to get where she was but with such remarkable talent, she made it and commanded respect and admiration for a collection of iconic designs in lighting, furniture and architecture.
To me the first thing that comes to mind would have to be the Gräshoppa lamp, a reading floor lamp of pure elegance, as shown above in the interior of The Grossman House. There’s also the Cobra lamp, (below) which comes in either a single or double head and is a winner of the prestigious Good Design Award. In furniture she experimented with mixing untraditional materials at the time such as metal and plastic with wood; a well-known collection being a desk and three dressers known as the 62 Series, appropriately named as they were considered to be 10 years ahead of their time.
It wasn’t until I saw the California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way” exhibition last year that I saw to the extent in which she played in the mid century design movement. Grossman designed at least fourteen important homes, many of them recognisable to me, yet never knowing the architect. Her architecture married elegantly with the Californian landscape, at times balancing beautifully on the hilly slopes and it is said that many of the homes she designed were done to spec and interestingly she lived in them until they sold.
While many of her hard to get original designs are siting in museums and being auctioned at exorbitant prices, Danish Design house Gubi, has recently brought her most iconic pieces back in to production for the new to enjoy and for the best part, bringing back to the spotlight an important designer of yesteryear.
I’ve had a lot of fun researching and discovering information about Grossman so expect to see more “Designer Bites” from the past and present – I’ll call it a little homework exercise of mine.
Mel xx
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A lovely post Mel. Interesting to hear about her determination in a then men’s world. Respect her work and would so love to tour that amazing house. x
Thanks Geraldine. I know and it’s such a shame that a few of her homes where torn down… some people have no idea!
Fantastic post! Love her and that era. I like how you’ve presented and researched it.
Keep these coming. We’re so lucky as women in the times we live and cannot understand what women before us had to go through to fight for independence and equality….
Thank you for that reminder! x
Hi Tina. Thank you:) Yes it’s really difficult to truly fathom how strong they must have been to succeed. We owe them a lot! M xx
Great start of your new series – and what a good idea to kick it off with such a talented WOMAN in a men’s world (at that time, at least) I think I’ve first read about her grasshopper lamp that is now produced by Guby on Gudy’s blog and fell in love with it right away…
Thanks Lena. I think Gubi really contributed to bringing her back into the spotlight. xx
Namesake she is! Great Sunday reading, thank you for sharing Mel! Simple and stylish, I really love big windows.
Thank you Kreetta, happy Sunday to you. xx
I am a huge fan of hers since I know Gubi a bit better. Her lamps are on my wish list and there is not much more on my lighting list right now. The grasshopper lamp would look so good at my place! xx
The grasshopper is on my wish list too, I hope you get it Gudy! And I have to attribute my introduction to Greta Grossman to you xx
Couldn’t love this era more Mel. Her work is stunning. I’d love to do the iconic house tour in the states. Great research and piece-well done you! xx
Didn’t know that there was a house tour of hers, would love to do that also! Thanks Caroline xx M