# Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints

> The linens Josef Frank drew for Svenskt Tenn, which still prints them: invented trees, flowers, fruit and birds, even a map of Manhattan, packed edge to edge in long repeats and many clear colours, mostly on white or natural linen. The plants are outlined, stylised but recognisable, loose and asymmetric. Frank meant different patterns to be mixed in one room, against the cold purity of functionalism; his 1958 essay "Accidentism" later named the idea: rooms should look as if they had come about by chance. Unlike Marimekko's single enlarged motif, Frank keeps many small motifs and colours.

- Period: 1934–present
- Where: Northern Europe
- Origin: Stockholm. The Viennese architect Josef Frank (1885–1967) had founded the interiors firm Haus & Garten in Vienna in 1925 with Oskar Wlach and Walter Sobotka, and designed hand block-printed linens for it, such as Aralia around 1930. He moved to Sweden in 1933, and in 1934 Estrid Ericson hired him for Svenskt Tenn, the interiors firm she had founded in 1924. Many of the best-known prints date from his wartime years in Manhattan (Wikipedia gives 1941–46 for those textile designs): among them Manhattan (Nationalmuseum: 1943–44; LACMA: 1943–45), La Plata and Baranquilla (c. 1943–45) and Vegetable Tree (1944). Frank developed his repeats from watercolour paintings. Svenskt Tenn still prints them on linen and carries them onto goods such as trays (Vegetable Tree, Mirakel, Manhattan), so the patterns also work as the shop's graphics.
- Branch: Craft & organic
- Also known as: Josef Frank textiles, Svenskt Tenn prints, Swedish Modern floral print
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/josef-frank-svenskt-tenn/

## How it works

- Fill the whole repeat with many small botanical motifs (invented trees, flowers, fruit, birds), so that little ground shows through.
- Draw each plant with an outline and some inner detail, stylised but recognisable, and never reduce it to an abstract shape.
- Print many clear colours, mostly on a white or natural linen ground left unprinted; dark or coloured grounds appear only as alternative colourways.
- Make the repeat long and the arrangement loose and asymmetric, so the eye cannot quickly find where the pattern starts again.
- Let an invented world carry the pattern, such as a tree that grows impossible fruit or a city laid out as a map.
- Mix different patterns in one room or one layout, as if put together by chance, instead of matching them.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [All-over field](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-over-field/) (defining)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (characteristic)
- [Organic flow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/organic-flow/) (characteristic)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (defining)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (defining)
- [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (defining)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (defining)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (defining)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (defining)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (occasional)
- [Diagram & data](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagram-and-data/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (defining)
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (characteristic)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic)
- [Luxurious & glamorous](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/luxurious-and-glamorous/) (occasional)
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (occasional)

Avoids: Ornament-free, Non-representational, Rectilinear, Limited spot colours, Monochrome, Central symmetry, Generous white space, Rational & objective, Straight photography

Palette: #f4efe3, #c8372d, #2f6e45, #1f4f8f, #e3a92b, #d77a9a

Typefaces: Lettering drawn inside the repeat, such as the grey banners naming 'MANHATTAN' that run through the Manhattan print (LACMA M.2019.49.2), The printed selvedge mark naming pattern, designer and maker, such as 'La Plata Komp. Av Josef Frank Svenskt Tenn Stockholm' (RISD Museum, 2008.9.1), Otherwise none on the cloth: the pattern itself carries the identity, and any text belongs on a plain panel or label beside it

Known for: Josef Frank, 'Vegetable Tree', designed 1944 (Cooper Hewitt's record gives Sweden; its 2014 article says New York), printed textile, Svenskt Tenn (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, gift of Svenskt Tenn, 1982-60-1); Josef Frank, 'Manhattan', designed 1943–44, printed linen furnishing fabric, Svenskt Tenn AB, printed 2012 (Nationalmuseum Stockholm, NMK 195/2017); Josef Frank, 'Manhattan', designed 1943–45, printed linen, Svenskt Tenn, printed 2019: map segments in red, blue and green on white with grey 'MANHATTAN' banners (LACMA, M.2019.49.2); Josef Frank, 'La Plata', 1943–45, screen-printed linen, Svenskt Tenn, printed on the selvedge 'La Plata Komp. Av Josef Frank Svenskt Tenn Stockholm' (RISD Museum, 2008.9.1); Josef Frank, 'Baranquilla', c. 1943–45, printed bleached linen, Svenskt Tenn: vines, fruit, flowers and leaves in bright colours on a black ground (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1954.201); Josef Frank, 'Anakreon', c. 1938, printed linen with birds and flowers, manufactured by Svenskt Tenn (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010.184); Forerunner: Josef Frank, 'Aralia', c. 1930, hand block-printed linen for Haus & Garten, Vienna (V&A, CIRC.823-1967)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920)
- Alike in its design choices: [Taiwan Floral Cloth (Huabu)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taiwan-floral-chintz.md) (1950–present), 73% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Tingatinga Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/tingatinga.md) (1968–present), 60% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [AfriCOBRA](https://stylogeny.com/styles/africobra.md) (1968–present), 60% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kanoon Children's Book Illustration (Iran, 1965 to 1979)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kanoon-childrens-illustration.md) (1965–1979), 59% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [minä perhonen (Hand-Drawn Textile Graphics, Akira Minagawa)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mina-perhonen.md) (1995–present), 59% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Superflat](https://stylogeny.com/styles/superflat.md) (1993–present), 56% alike

## Sources

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Frank_(architect)
- https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Frank
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svenskt_Tenn
- https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2014/02/01/the-father-of-swedish-modern-design/
- https://collection.nationalmuseum.se/en/collection/item/215599/
- https://collections.lacma.org/object/250890
- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/497505
- https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O267096/
- https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/la-plata-200891
- https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.201
- https://www.oca.ac.uk/?p=29410
- https://www.svenskttenn.com/se/en/range/table-setting/trays/

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