Sven Ivar Dysthe

Sven Ivar Dysthe (1931-2020) is a Norwegian industrial designer who is especially known for his furniture. His design career began when he started as an apprentice at one of the most respectable carpenter workshops in Trondheim. Arne Remlov, interior architect and editor of the design magazine Bonytt, persuaded Dysthe to apply for admission to the Royal College of Art in London. In 1952, Dysthe began his studies there at its newly created field of industrial design. The general manager at the school, furniture designer David Pye, played an important role in Dysthe´s development. The highlight as a student was most definitely when he was assigned to make the pincushion box for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. After graduating in 1954, Dysthe started working for the Danish architects and furniture designers Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard Nielsen in Copenhagen. In Denmark, he gained close knowledge and understanding of Scandinavian design. He moved back to Norway the following year and it did not take long for his career to take off.

His furniture is characterized by elegant and modern design, all products are minimal in form and material use. One of his main focuses was to allow for serial production, combining great systematic solutions with the right amount of details. He loved to explore new and modern techniques, an example of that is his dining chair Era. With its black powder coated steel frame and a steam bent T-shaped wooden backrest, together with a light and almost floating veneer seat, this chair is definitely showing his creative talent.

Country

  • Norway

Design for

Space Copenhagen

Torbjørn Afdal

Thanks

This website is dedicated to all those people who, in one way or another, have helped this project/dream/desire to begin and take shape.

Special thanks to my wife and my parents for supporting me, to Cristina Escarrà and Alfonso Pérez Rosales for generously sharing with me their experience as agents, to those clients who, in one way or another, have given me wise advice, to the brands that have placed their trust in me, and to Gonzalo, my godfather, who, with his always generous help, and guiding me throughout this process, is largely to blame for the fact that I can boast of being an “entrepreneur”.

Thanks also to Nuria, Rafa and Guillermo, who, to help me in the hard beginnings of any entrepreneurial activity, have opened the doors of their home, let me share with them a bit of their personal lives when I pass through their cities of residence, and give me free accommodation.

Thanks to all!