ESKILSTUNA CULTURAL FITTINGS – TRADITIONAL FITTINGS FROM SWEDEN

Eskilstuna Kulturbeslag: The Culture of Fittings. From Sweden.
Eskilstuna, in the eastern Swedish province of Södermanland, has been the center of the Scandinavian iron and tool industry for 350 years. The influx of cheap Far Eastern ironware since the 1980s has swept away most of the forges, turning shops, and spinning mills there as well. Since 1994, Eskilstuna Kulturbeslag has been working with increasing success to preserve their heritage in two ways: firstly, by reactivating the remaining artisanal and mechanical resources of this once-important center of European metalworking, and secondly, by utilizing and reviving the rich repertoire of functional forms that have developed there over three hundred years. The Swedish products cover the period from 1700 to 1960, both in their form and their manufacturing methods. It becomes clear: What originated in the Biedermeier period – called the Karl Johan style in Sweden – was of timeless clarity and remained influential not only in the second half of the 19th century, but also in the “Scandinavian design” of the 20th century.