With seafood season around the corner, we look to Charlotte Lynggaard’s ocean-inspired collection for Svenskt Tenn to source our summer tablescapes
It is fair to say that Danish goldsmith and jewellery designer Charlotte Lynggaard took a deep dive when working on her recently released collaboration with Svenskt Tenn. Partnering up with the iconic interior store, the creative director of Ole Lynggaard Copenhagen has crafted a collection of must-have ocean-inspired tablescape details that will make a splash at any summer party.
This marks the designer’s first venture into soft furnishing interiors. “I have been a jewellery designer for 35 years, but I have always had a love for textiles: napkins, tablecloths… and table settings. I collect tableware and enjoy mixing and matching different colours and prints,” Lynggaard says.
Charlotte Lynggaard working on The North Sea collection. Photo: Svenskt Tenn
Photo: Svenskt Tenn
Svenskt Tenn, founded by Estrid Ericson in 1924, has played host to some of the 20th century’s most prominent interior designs and designers, most notably Josef Frank’s iconic botanical prints. “Svensk Tenn has always attracted my attention both as a company and as a brand,” says Lyyngaard. It is a design house with a fantastic story, where the soul has been kept and preserved and where classic design goes hand in hand with the finest craftsmanship. I hope that this collection will be a lasting contribution to Svensk Tenn’s magical world of design.”
And just like Josef Frank, Lynggaard traces her inspirations back to nature. “I am mesmerised by soft, organic shapes, and I am very much smitten with the wonders of nature. In my jewellery collections, you will discover this source of inspiration in my leaves and flower designs,” she says.
However, for her design collaboration with Svenskt Tenn, now available at Svenskt Tenn, the creative director headed under the sea. Finding inspiration in the landscape outside of her coastal home in Öresund – situated between Denmark and Sweden – she designed the ocean creatures central to the new collection. “I wanted to depict the ocean. I have always loved fish as I think they evoke a feeling of dream and wonder,” she says. “I feel immediately inspired by the colours, the shapes, the contrasts, and the textures whenever I go for a stroll in the nature outside my home.”
The collection, aptly named 'The North Sea', consists of napkins, tablecloths, tablets, and beautiful trays, all featuring the designer's delicately detailed print of flounders, mackerels and squids. Each fish has been hand drawn and finished as lithographies with ink, printed in France on high-quality Belgian linen.
Photo: Svenskt Tenn
The pewter napkin rings are standout pieces, shaped like fishes curling around the linen napkins. “It can be used for almost any table setting – celebration, an easy everyday setup, small dinners, as well as larger ones,” says Lynggaard.
Ericson was known for creating exciting and unconventional table settings that broke the norm by mixing different colours and vases when she decorated her tables. The set table plays a central role in Svenskt Tenn’s history and is part of the company’s heritage. Lynggaard shares this intrigued for the tablescape. “I am attracted by the idea of what a table setting can do for people. How it brings us together and creates a pleasant atmosphere,” she says. “Hopefully, this collaboration will inspire the Svenskt Tenn customer to make their own table settings that will set the frame for creating memories to remember.”