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Architect and furniture designer, Bruno Mathsson, is celebrated for his chairs and well insulated houses. His designs are extremely practical, versatile and beautiful. Mr. Mathsson's acclaimed home furnishing credits also include computer desks, daybeds and tables. An example embodying his fine taste for design is the Fällbord table which incorporates and exemplifies beauty, elegance, versatility and practicality.

For five generations the Mathsson family had earned a living working with wood, so it comes as no surprise that a young Mathson would follow in his family's footsteps. As a young boy most of his chores were centered in the furniture and woodworking shop of his family. He grew up around tools, wood and the techniques of furniture building and woodworking.

Mathsson talked with experts and sent away for books in order to learn the technical and engineering skills that were missing in his small town of Varnamo. By doing so he not only mastered the skills he needed, he also formed a network of mentors to assisted him later on. He earned awards for furniture design and these partially helped support his formal education.

Although he created a lot of different furniture (annorlunda möbler) types, all of it was carefully made to be comfortable and beautiful. In addition, he recognized that people like flexibility and like furniture pieces that can be rearranged and used in innovative ways. His modular style adapts easily to different spaces and moods and increases its appeal.

In Swedish, fällbord, as in the Fällbord table, basically means a "folding table". The Fällbord table was first produced in 1935. The table support was made of birch. Table tops have been fashioned using a variety of woods including birch, oak, beech, cherry, ash, and other fine woods as well as a white laminate surface.

The Mathsson table folds into a tiny 23 cm bundle when completely collapsed and expands into a table 280 cm long when fully extended. It can be arranged with a dropped leaf at one or both ends and could serve as a tiny writing table in a coffee nook or expand into a banquet table with nearly every size in between possible. For those not accustomed to metric measurements, that is a range of a bit over 9 inches to about 110 1/4 inches.

During the 1960's Mathsson utilized modern materials such as metal tubing and synthetics in the furniture he constructed. While these later works were impressive, Mathsson is probably best known for his earlier creations such as the elegant Fällbord which allows for flexibility in crowded areas. While the Fällbord is believed to be based on folding tables that were once found in Swedish country homes, Mathsson transformed the traditional design into something unique and all his own.

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Bruno Mathsson is most well known for his chairs and for his architectural designs such as his incredibly well insulated and beautiful glass houses, but he made other fine home furnishings including computer desks, daybeds and tables. One of the most versatile and well known is the fällbord table, a design that is elegant and beautiful but extremely practical as well. All of Mathsson's different furniture (annorlunda möbler) styles were designed to provide the utmost in comfort and beauty. In the 1960s Mathsson began using more modern materials in his furniture designs, such as metal tubing and synthetics.