Nils (Nisse) Strinning studied architecture at KTH – the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm where he met Karin Svanholm (later Kajsa Strinning), with whom he married in 1944. Two years later, a dish shelf made by Nils in dialogue with Kajsa, came into production by the company Elfa.
In 1949 the Strinnings won first prize in a contest set up by Swedish publishing company Bonniers, to design flat-packaged and easily mounted bookshelves. The Strinning’s entry called the String system, consisted of a system of brackets made of metal rods and wooden shelves.
In 1951, Nils Strinning founded his own architectural firm and in the following year, te couple established the company String Design and moved to Lausanne in Schweiz where they lived for a couple of years. In 1953 the String Plex, a version of the String system but with acrylic side panels was launched. At the Triennale di Milano in 1954, the String system was awarded a Gold Medal, and during the same year, it was a part of the exhibition Design in Scandinavia, which toured the USA.
Nils Strinning designed several pieces of furniture for companies such as Thonet, Gemla, and Balzar Beskow. In 1972 he designed the lounge chair Limbo for the Swedish company Grythyttan, which became a success in West Germany. In 1993 Nils Strinning was awarded the Excellent Swedish Design Award for the new shelf system Kam. Five years later String system was included in the Excellent Swedish Design and Form-Klassiker exhibition, made by Svensk Form which was held at the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
From 2004 – 06 Nils Strinning was a part of the traveling exhibition Scandinavian Design Beyond the Myth. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 90. Four years later the exhibition String – 60 Years was shown at the Form Design Center in Malmö. As a furniture designer, Nils Strinning is represented at museums such as Vitra Design Museum in Veil am Rhein, the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum of Furniture Studies in Stockholm.
In the early 2000s the String system was relaunched by the Swedish company String Furniture and once again became a great international success.
