Yngve Ekström was a self-taught carpenter, stonemason, and furniture designer. In 1945 he founded the company ESE-möbler together with his brother Jerker Ekström and their friend Bertil Sjöqvist. One of the company’s first product was the armchair Per made of beech wood and webbing. A version with a taller back, called Anders was also released and from then on ESE-möbler often did a smaller and a larger versions of their chairs.
Ekströms real breakthrough as a furniture designer came in 1953 when he was invited by architect and early influencer Lena Larsson to exhibit at the NK-Bo store in Stockholm. During this time ESE-Möbler hade began working in laminated wood and the armchair Kurva (eng. the bend) was released. To make the shipping to the USA, the company (before IKEA) created a smart knockdown-construction, where the customer turned four screws to assemble the chair.
In 1956 one of the company’s most prolific product, the armchair Lamino, was launched. During the 1950’s Ekström also designed chairs for among others the manufacturers Gemla and Stolab, such as Gracell, Sibbo and Arka all in 1955. When ESE-Möbler in 1961 where to launch on the international market, they changed the name to Swedese, giving it a stronger connection to Sweden.
In 1964 the swivel chair Rondino was launched which in style turned more to the younger generation customers. During the 1960´s and 1970’s Ekström worked mainly in pine, of which the Furubo series is the most known objects.
Yngve Ekström was represented at several major exhibitions both national and international such as the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg (1963), the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (1970) and in the Scandinavian Design: A way of life exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Toyama, Japan (1987). Ekström is represented at among others the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum for Furniture Studies.
Ekström died in 1988 at the age of 75. In 1999 the magazine Sköna Hem set up a competition where its readers were to nominate the Swedish best furniture of the century. Their choice was the armchair Lamino which by then had become the backbone of Swedese’s production.
