Yngve Ekström

In 1945, Ekström co-founded the furniture company ESE-möbler together with his brother Jerker Ekström and their partner Sven Bertil Sjöqvist. The venture was grounded in a conviction that well-designed furniture should be both ergonomically considered and accessible. His breakthrough as a furniture designer came in 1953, when architect and tastemaker Lena Larsson invited him to exhibit at the NK-Bo store in Stockholm, bringing his work to a wider audience for the first time. After his brother's departure from the company, Ekström renamed the firm Swedese.

The work for which Ekström is most widely recognized is the Lamino armchair, designed in 1956. Constructed from molded and layer-glued veneer with an upholstered seat and back, the chair places the human body at the center of its design logic. Its gently curved frame, wide seat, and high back reflect Ekström's sustained interest in the relationship between form and physical comfort. In 1999, the Swedish magazine Sköna hem named Lamino the furniture design of the twentieth century in Sweden, and the chair has remained in continuous production ever since. A matching footstool, a side table, and a children's version called Lamini have since extended the family.

Beyond the Lamino, Ekström designed a varied body of work including the Dymling sofa, the Thea serving trolley, and the Arka and Pinocchio chairs. His pieces are held in the collections of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He sold Swedese in 1974 but continued to design for the company until his death on March 13, 1988.

On the Nordic auction market, Ekström's furniture appears regularly, with Lamino chairs and Dymling sofas among the most frequently traded pieces at Swedish auction houses including Bukowskis and Stockholms Auktionsverk. With over 600 lots currently available through Auctionist, his work represents one of the most actively collected bodies of mid-century Swedish furniture design.