Frankly yours, India Mahdavi

EXHIBITED AT STRANDVÄGEN 5
2022.09.05 – 2022.10.09

In this autumn exhibition on Strandvägen 5, Svenskt Tenn presents the collaboration with one of France's most renowned architects and interior designers, India Mahdavi. With a unique vision and personal expression, she has curated the exhibition both with her own design and with creations from Svenskt Tenn and Josef Frank. Two new pewter objects are also launched in the exhibition, designed by India Mahdavi exclusively for Svenskt Tenn.

“This exhibition is an exaggeration, where I have placed the fabric all over the walls and furniture. It is a caricature of the space, which allows to perceive it in a different way and to highlight its beauty.”
India Mahdavi

Josef Frank’s Vegetable Tree print adorns both furniture and walls.

Mahdavi has been a fan of Austrian architect and designer Josef Frank for many years, often using his fabrics and patterns when creating new interiors. Her exhibition, Frankly Yours, India Mahdavi at Svenskt Tenn, is based on his well-known Vegetable Tree print.

“I love the fact that vegetables grow on a tree here. It gives this fabric a poetic dimension. In the exhibition, I have put the Vegetable Tree all over the walls and the furniture. This allows us to perceive it in a different way and to highlight its beauty.”

“Colours are the consequence of my memory, of my heritage: my Iranian and Egyptian origins, growing up in the United States in the 60s and living in the South of France. It is a language that I have come to use fluently. As I see it, colours have conversations. They argue and reconcile.”

India Mahdavi

New designs by India Mahdavi

In conjunction with the Frankly Yours exhibition, Mahdavi has created a floor lamp inspired by Josef Frank's lamp 2326, as well as two pewter objects. Additionally, she has introduced a new, orange colour scheme for Josef Frank's classic P5 Chair P5.

Stool 530 upholstered in the Vegetable Tree fabric.

The P5 Chair by Josef Frank

Josef Frank designed several bentwood chairs during the late 1920s, some of which were produced for Thonet Mundus AG in Vienna. Chair P5’s original sketch is preserved in Svenskt Tenn’s archive. The orange colour was created by India Mahdavi in connection with the exhibition Frankly Yours – India Mahdavi.

Discover the chair

Josef Frank’s P5 Chair in orange. 

Selected products