Of all the places where modernism put down roots, Norway provided particularly fertile ground: with its union from Sweden dissolved as recently as 1905, a new international language signaled independence. Recovering from World War II occupation, the country harnessed the principles, technologies, and idioms of modernism to return to normality quickly and affordably.
Modernism bloomed, but unlike the distinguishable and celebrated work of its 20th-century architects—think of the functionalism of Erling Viksjø versus Arnstein Arneberg’s conservatism, or the fame of Arne Korsmo and Sverre Fehn—notoriety eluded Norway’s corresponding design scene. In its heyday, furniture and decorative arts were lumped under the umbrella of Scandinavian design. Moreover, the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1968 focused an entire nation on energy, to the neglect of other industries. By the mid-1970s, the native design community was running on fumes, local consumers neglected their recent material cultural heritage as oil catapulted them to wealth, and international collectors lacked the knowledge to seek out specific talent.
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