Åke Axelsson worked as an interior architect, designer, and furniture maker for eight decades, from a small workshop in Valholm. He began woodworking as a child, making a small wall cabinet in a school class at age twelve — a memory he returned to throughout his life.

Though often nicknamed "Kung Stol" — King of Chairs — Axelsson resisted the title. "I am first and foremost an interior architect," he said. "Furniture is always part of a whole, part of the room's functionality."

His relationship with material was precise and personal. He spoke of rödbok, the red beech central to his work, as taking roughly 120 years to mature — a slow growth that left the wood dense, hard, and strong, and, in his words, "beautiful, with an even surface and a soft, pleasant colour."

Over his career, Axelsson designed more than 200 chairs, and his work furnished some of Sweden's most significant public interiors, including the Riksdag Library, King Carl XVI Gustaf's Jubilee Room at Stockholm Palace, and Sven-Harry's Art Museum.

He was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1989, received the Prince Eugen Medal and the Bruno Mathsson Prize, and was awarded the title of Professor in 1995. In February 2026, he received the Gösta Berg Medal from the Royal Patriotic Society, honoring eight decades of contributions to the design of Sweden's public spaces.

His belief: "One should complete history rather than compete with it."

Åke Axelsson