DesignerSwedish
Roger Persson
4 active items
Roger Persson was born in 1967 in Karlskrona, Sweden. He studied industrial design at HDK, the School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg, and spent time at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1997, graduating with an MFA from HDK in 2000. After graduating he co-founded the design studio Stilpolisen together with two fellow designers. In 2009 he established his own studio, Roger Persson Design, which handles projects ranging from furniture and lighting to switches and 3D-scanning devices.
His relationship with Swedese, the Vaggeryd-based manufacturer founded in 1956 and long associated with the Swedish craft tradition in bentwood and upholstery, began around 2003 when the company was looking for new designers following its acquisition of Söderbergs Möbler. That collaboration has since produced some of Persson's most widely sold work.
The Happy family, conceived around 2007, is the design he is best known for internationally. The chair's form traces the curve of a smile in profile: a low, enveloping shell that rotates freely on a five-star base. The line eventually expanded to include low and high back versions, a swivel variant (Happy Swing), a footstool, and a sofa configuration. The Happy Swing in particular -- with its pendulum-action back rest -- has been exhibited in the United States, Japan, and across Europe and remains in active production.
The Select series added a more upright, office-adjacent easy chair to the Swedese range, while the Norma swivel chair with an adjustable recline function broadened Persson's contribution to contract and residential markets. His Bespoke table, put into production in 2010, extended his scope beyond seating. Further work for Karl Andersson and Söner -- including the Sander armchair series -- and contributions to brands such as ByRydens, Sagaform, and FOC lighting demonstrate a practice that moves freely between categories.
In 1999, while still a student, Persson received an award at a furniture competition in Awasaki, Japan.
On Auctionist, Roger Persson's work appears across 33 auction records, predominantly chairs and armchairs. Stockholms Auktionsverk handles the largest share of his lots. The top recorded result is 18,000 SEK, and a pair of Select armchairs with ottomans achieved 5,500 SEK at Bukowskis. Happy Swing pairs typically trade in the lower hundreds of SEK at auction, reflecting the chair's continued availability as a new product.