In an interview, designer Terje Ekstrøm recalled that he often heard the words “sit up straight boy!” “You can safely say,” he said, that the Ekstrem Chair “was created from personal experience”. Sinuous, anything but straight, Ekstrem is a visionary chair, and today a Norwegian design icon.The new exhibition at The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo is the first-ever retrospective of Terje Ekstrøm (1944-2013) and his contemporaries, pioneers of Postmodernist design in Norway in the 1970s and 1980s.At a time of significant economic and social change, the new generation of designers challenged their forbearers and the ethos of the ‘golden age’ of Scandinavian design with a playful, eclectic approach. Ekstrøm’s Ekstrem chair, designed in 1972, but only put into production in 1984, is today seen as one of Norway's first Postmodern designs.Ekstrøm also designed a number of products for Tandbergs Radiofabrikk, that have equally come to characterize Norwegian Postmodernism. Internationally acclaimed designs from this manufacturer will be on show, including the Fasett Loudspeaker and Sølvsuper 11 Radio.The exhibition will present items from private and public collections, many exhibited for the first time: prototypes, models, drawings, photographs, and vintage TV footage, including copies of the Ekstrem Chair for visitors to sit in themselves.Ekstrøm Extreme is curated by Denise Hagströmer (who co-curated the exhibition “Album Covers. Vinyl Revival” at the same museum last year) and is accompanied by a book, also edited by Hagströmer, titled “Ekstrøm Extreme. Norwegian Furniture and Industrial Design.”“Ekstrøm Extreme. Furniture and Industrial Design” will run from February 14 through May 15, at The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Oslo.
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