Sideboard ID  

Has a strong late 60s early 70s feel to it. I was thinking maybe FDB?

@mark737 ; Erik Wortz " VIBORG" sideboard . Ikea. 1960's.

Lexi.

Great ID, Lexi!

Just wondering if maybe Erik Wortz is Erik Wørts?

@herringbone; Good question !! 

Erik Wørts definitely Danish. 

Erik Wortz/Wörtz best known for the "Kolding" chair/ sofa for Broderna Andersson and the flatpack version for Ikea. Both Swedish.

Did he possibly design some furniture for Ikea in the 60's/70's and the Swedes spelt the surname differently??

There appears to be a dearth of info regarding Erik Wørts life :-one site gives his DOB as 1916 and death 1997, but no documentation/source to back this up.

Perhaps someone else could chime in.

Lexi.

Thank you both for the replies. I found this mention from the book, THE SECRET OF IKEA, by Bertil Torekull and Ingvar Kamprad:

 Gillis Lundgren became the first full-time designer involuntarily ("Forming a box or chair is about the same thing"), but there were names other than those that were supposed to spread IKEA's fame Designer Bengt Ruda leads the list of four capable Danish colleagues - Preben Fabricius, Erik Worts, Arne Wahl Iversen and T. Herlev - in the picture 

While researching today, I checked Mats Linders site; remembered he had posted something about Ikea.

http://www.matslinder.no/2017/05/26/norsk-mobel-ikea-produktkatalog-fra-1964

As you can see, he mentions an Erik Wörtz as one of the designers for Ikea, along with Bengt Ruda.

So, a "lost in translation" moment with regards to the surname ?

Lexi.

Yes, that appears to be the case.  Thanks again, Lexi,  for coming up with the info on this piece.  Even knowing the designer and make, I can only find a couple of obscure sources online.  How were you able to ID it?  

@mark737

Found the same sideboard a few days ago; said it was Norwegian but did not show labels/marks. Having exhausted all well known Norwegian designers and makers,decided to check matslinders.no. Found the Ikea post and went from there. Simples....

Glad to be of some help.

Lexi.

Again I think that there is a lot of work to do in regards of documentation and backchecking the information out there about the lesser known designers and makers. But good work, Lexi. And Mads Linder is allways a good source. 

Here‘s a text from the FDB homepage on Erik Wørts: „Erik Wørts was one of the most productive furniture architects in the golden age of Danish design, and by virtue of a long-standing collaboration with IKEA, he may also be one of the furniture designers whose furniture is in most homes worldwide. He had a solid professional  background as the son of a carpenter. He was educated from the school of Arts and crafts. And in the 60s he was firmly affiliated with FDB’s drawing office.“ The part with most homes worldwide might be an exageration. But interesting.

Thanks for the additional info, Herringbone.  Was Henrik Wørts his father?  I see there are some items listed as designed by Erik and made by Henrik Worts, such as these chairs from the 50's.   

@mark737

One would think so, but I don‘t know for sure.

Posted by: mark737

Thanks for the additional info, Herringbone.  Was Henrik Wørts his father?  I see there are some items listed as designed by Erik and made by Henrik Worts, such as these chairs from the 50's.   

@mark737  @herringbone. The image I am posting is a small part of a page in this publication;

Christiansen, Povl; Fyrretyve ar Med Snedkerlaugets Mobeludstillinger. GEC Gads,1986

Text states that Henrik Wørts was Erik Wørts father.

Just thought I would let you know !!!

I could have verified that now, but I completely forgot it was ever discussed here. I assume, that if one would go through all old threads systematically, one could probably answer many questions that had to remained unanswered then.