Jonas Bohlin

The chair Vilda is the result of a 40 year long love story between Jonas Bohlin and bent wood, a love affair that for a long time seemed to stay on a platonic level.

"As a student at Konstfack [the largest university of design, arts and crafts in Sweden] I visited Gemla and was immediately fascinated of how such a brutal craft could create such delicate furniture. It took some years until it was time for me to give the technique a try, but for various reasons no product came out of it. When designing a new piece of furniture, I always ask myself if this item really is needed and what it would mean from an ecological perspective if it were to end up in production. It must have a shape and construction that is durable year after year.
Just like the classic Thonet café chair. It is only then that the product is sustainable. A while ago the thought was brought to life again, and with the help of some chair parts I kept from my last visit at Gemla, I built a prototype. I removed all unnecessary parts and added some leather from Tärnsjö to create a dialogue between two materials. Then I packed it all in a box and sent it to Gemla with a note saying “call me!” You can say that my love was returned and Vilda was finally created. Style-wise Vilda is about as far as you can get from my first chair Concrete, but the desire to create has remained exactly the same."