Lars Bülow was introduced to the design industry in 1971 with an apprenticeship at the furniture manufacturer Norell Möbel, form where he continued to Overman GMBH in Germany. In 1973-1974 Bülow worked with the architect Bruno Mathsson and from 1975 to 1978 he was employed by Möbelinstitutet (the Swedish Furniture Research Institute) working with quality tests, exhibitions and communication.
In parallel with his work Bülow studied interior architecture and furniture design at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design from 1975 to 1978. In 1978 Bülow was the first Konstfack-student to receive a design scholarship from IKEA's design department. At Konstfack Bülow met his coming partner Kersti Sandin and in 1978 they founded their design studio Sandin & Bülow. Their first commissions were international design exhibitions, with clients like Svensk Form, The Swedish Institute and Governmental Ministries. When KF – the Swedish Cooperative Wholesales Union in 1979 decided to develop a collection of utility furniture (basmöbler) Sandin and Bülow were asked to design the launching exhibition and later to design some objects to the series.
During the 1980s the Sandin & Bülow Studio designed furniture and light fittings for a group of Swedish manufacturers. Their breakthrough was the serving trolley Supporter for Akuma (1980), followed by the Cross table (Mitab 1982), the cabinet Hommage à Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn/ Karl Andersson & Söner and the chair Zig for TUA, both in 1985. Four years later they designed the office furniture range MM for Skandiform and the Natura series for Akuma.
In 1992 Kersti Sandin and Lars Bülow founded their own furniture manufacturer Materia, which they run until 2004. Under the Materia brand the duo launched furniture series mainly to the contract market. The sofa Arketyp (1991) the magazine rack and waste basket Vågspel (1994-1996), the seating series Centrum (1997) and the barstool/ bench Plint (2001) are some of their cornerstones.
Sandin & Bülow was awarded the Excellent Swedish Design Award 20 times, alongside several other awards. They are represented at the Swedish Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg and the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne.
In 2004 Materia became a part of the Kinnarps Group and Bülow continued as CEO for the company until 2012, and parallel in the same position at Skandiform and NC Nordic Care. In 2012 Bülow became the CEO of Lammhults, where he stayed until 2015. Bülow has had several positions in the board of companies and organizations such as SIR – the Swedish Interior Architects Association, Svensk Form – the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design, TMF – The Swedish Federation of Wood and Furniture Industry, Materia Group, Kinnarps Group, SVID- the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation and Lammhults Design Group.
In 2017, Sandin and Bülow founded the Museum of Furniture Studies in Stockholm, showing their extensive private collection of Nordic and international design furniture from late 1800s until today.
