Carl Öjerstam graduated from the Department of Industrial Design at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm in 1997. While still at Konstfack, Öjerstam founded his design studio, Carl Design, and began working as a designer for IKEA, for whom he a.o. created the Storvik rattan lounge chair in 1999, which was awarded the Red Dot Design Award the following year.
In 2007, Öjerstam designed the rotating armchair Omni for the Swedish manufacturer Materia. Due to its construction with a large ball bearing, the seat on Omni could rotate 360 degrees while still standing firmly on its four legs. In 2008, Öjerstam was awarded the Red Dot Design Award for Omni, and in 2012 the armchair was used as a set piece in Ridley Scott’s fifth Alien-movie.
Besides IKEA and Materia, Öjerstam also works with the office furniture company EFG. For the later he designed the chair series Archie in 2017.
As an industrial designer, Öjerstam has been assigned major projects in e.g. medical technology, charging fixtures for electric vehicles, and boats for maritime rescue operations. Over the years, Öjerstam has also designed a number of recognized lighting fixtures, among them the iconic Ikea-lamp "Lampan" launched in the late 1990s and still a top seller at the company.
Carl Öjerstam is represented at a.o. the Ikea-Museum in Älmhult and the Museum of Furniture Studies in Stockholm.
