Karl Malmvall is part of the great Scandinavian furniture royalty. Karl grew up, as he likes to say, "with his feet in the sawdust" of Småland, Sweden. Over a century ago, Karl Malmvall's grandfather, Karl Andersson, opened Huskvarna’s famous furniture factory and it was here that the family's furniture legacy began.
Malmvall studied at the School of Architecture in Århus, Denmark. It was here that Malmvall designed Prima Vista, an ingenious wooden expansion table that helped him gain a foothold in the industry and begin to make his own name apart from his famous furniture family.
Karl Malmvall is especially aware of his primary objectives as an industrial designer; the things he creates should be functional, pleasing to the eye, but should also be relatively easy and cost effective to manufacture. It is for these reasons that Karl has had many a successful collaboration with companies like IKEA, because he understands that good design shouldn’t always be exceptional but rather the rule, and available to most if not all. This egalitarian view of style and design has not rendered the work of Malmvall any bit less stylish or well crafted. In fact, his body of work offers a view at the perfect intersection between form, function and practicality.