Stockholm, Sweden, 2019
interior design
Emma Olbers
photography
Monica Förster Design Studio
After half a decade of restoration work, Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum reopened to the public in November 2018. Among the changes were those in the Old Library, which were entrusted to the renown Swedish designer and art director Emma Olbers.
The original museum building, completed in 1863, underwent numerous more changes in the years that followed. When Emma Olbers was asked to modernise the Old Library, she didn’t want it to lose its unique charm and instead dared herself to make it as environmentally sustainable as possible. Sustainability of the products and who is producing them were key considerations for Olbers who decided to include outstanding local designers, namely Front and Monica Förster. Monica Förster challenged the Zanat woodcarvers to customize the carvings on the award winning Sana chair, which she had previously designed for Zanat, so that the carving pattern would match the graceful vaulted ceiling in the library.
