About Gemla

At Helge River in Diö, in the heart of the old forests of Småland, lies Sweden's oldest furniture factory.

Its inner sanctum, beech and ash are tamed into time- less furniture by skilled craftsmen who know which way the
wood likes to bend.

Stretching and flexing, easing and teasing, until the steaming hot wood finds its form. And the wood will not be rushed.
The transformation from log into chair takes days, sometimes even weeks.
The technique has been used by boat and fence builders since ancient times but was refined in the mid 1800's by Thonet
into the iconic chair, worn my millions of seats in the cafés of Europe.

The shape is determined by the best and the brightest of their time.
Back then their names were Peter Celsing, Yngve Ekström, Sigurd Lewerentz and Carl Malmsten.
Now they are among others Jonas Bohlin, Sami Kallio, Jakob Thau, Front and Lisa Hilland.

The bent wood meets webbing linen and organically tanned leather from Tärnsjö. The bender meets the designer.
What was then has become now. The tree has become a chair.
In the chair the memory of the tree and the forest remains.