"He sat on a stool in the small studio, the showroom on Mäster Mikaels gata, Söder, Stockholm. Hands deep in the pockets of his overcoat. He kept his hat on. It was late autumn in the mid-70s. In the room, he exhibited small, peculiar cabinets made of wood, assembled from found pieces or sawed and painted. Everything might have looked bohemian; some might have called it careless, but how wrong they were… Behind every piece, every color, there was an artist's awareness. Chance might have sparked the process, but the final result was the intention of a significant artist.
I admired John Kandell and was familiar with his furniture work from the 60s and earlier. I wanted to seek collaboration with him, knowing that he had taken a break. When I visited his exhibition, I approached him. The answer was: no, I'm done with designing furniture…
A year later, our meeting was repeated; I bought a small cabinet, and John responded in much the same way as before. After some time, I contacted his wife, the textile artist Ulla, and she facilitated a meeting, which marked the beginning of a personal friendship and an extraordinary collaboration that lasted as long as John lived. John Kandell became one of my universities. It is no coincidence that in the design year of 2005, Nationalmuseum chose John Kandell's furniture to be featured on one of the commemorative stamps issued by the Swedish Post."
Källemos founder Sven Lundh sitting on John Kandells chair Solitär.
John Kandell in the showroom at Källemos head office.
John Kandell had an unusual eye, an exceptional certainty, absolutely superior. When faced with a challenging form or color problem, he would have a decisive answer after just a few seconds of reflection. Many of his architect colleagues have testified to this.
He often reflected on his time with the architect Sven Ivar Lind in the late 40s and the years that followed. It was there that he learned what he would later carry with him, complemented by his own thoughts on architecture.
The Bon Bon chair he designed as early as 1963 for a task for the National Board of Public Building, intended for the Treasury at the Royal Palace. The chair was produced in only a few copies before it went into production at Källemo.
In production at Källemo, the bookcase Solitär, the Solitär sofa, and the Camilla chair quickly followed. All these models had been crafted as one-off pieces by John at his friend, master carpenter Lars Larsson, or at master carpenter David Sjölinder."
SVEN LUNDH
