Bruno Mathsson was a famous Swedish furniture designer. Five generations of his family were cabinetmakers, including Bruno's father. Bruno, who was born in 1907, grew up in Varnamo learning how to make well crafted wood furniture. He developed the skills needed to become a woodworker and furniture designer.

Furniture designer Mathsson wanted to learn everything he could about the technical issues and design styles he worked with. He taught himself by reading books from museums and design centers and networking with other designers. Functionalism was a design style that Bruno was very interested in. He actually won a scholarship for one of his functionalist chair designs.

Not content with the limitations of traditional flat board furniture, Mathsson experimented with chairs without the springs and heavy upholstery, some that could be adjusted in position, and all with clean, elegant line. Some were so controversial that they were hidden in storage until he became a famous name.

Mathsson was so concerned with what he referred to as the "mechanics of sitting" that he performed experiments to see what pattern was made by a human being while sitting, even plopping into snow to examine the result! By 1937, he had achieved a Grand Prix design award at the Paris Expo. By then, some of his once hidden chairs were being shown to the world again.

The Bruno Mathsson Pernilla chair is one of his classic designs. It comes in both easy chair and lounge chair formats that use bentwood and lamination techniques in part of the design and can be made with either webbing or upholstery. Due to shortages of material during the war, Mathsson used jute, hemp, or anything else he could find. This design can be adapted to almost any wood or material. Bruno Mathsson Pernilla chairs usually come with an attached pillow as well.

Another famous Bruno Mathsson design was the Mathsson Fällbord table, a modular table that can be folded and reconfigured in many different arrangements. It was designed in 1935 and remains a modern looking piece of furniture to this day. This timelessness is a common thread running through many of his designs including his highly sought after Mathsson Jetson, Miranda, Mathsson Eva and Pernilla chair designs.

One final piece of Mathsson furniture that has to be mentioned as one of his classics is the superellips. Another of his tables (Mathsson bord), the superellips adds to the huge selection of Mathsson designs that is simply growing in popularity and value over time. To have designed so many timeless classics is an enormous testament to this legendary designer. Mathsson raised his family's craft to an all-new level prior to his death from illness in 1988.

Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988) was a Swedish furniture (mobler) designer who was concerned about the "mechanics of sitting". After learning a great deal about woodworking from his cabinet making father, he went on to carry out much research into the way people sit and used this in his classic Mathsson Pernilla Chair design. This chair uses bent and laminated wood with various types of materials for upholstery. Another of his creations was the Fällbord table which has several configurations. After winning a design award in 1937, his designs went on to receive widespread popularity even into the 21st Century.