Studio Visit: Bjork Studio
Bolts of customer’s own material (COM). fabrics.
Opposite personalities attract-and often produce the best results, as with collaborators Amy and Tomas Wikman.
A mix of vintage furniture (in its original state), along with restored and reupholstered specimens, plus new custom-built pieces. The white-framed Queen Anne sofa has received a total makeover after being rescued from a dumpster by Atlanta designer Smith Hanes, a friend of the Wikmans.
Amy rough sketches a majority of the firm’s designs; pictured here are drawings and floor plans depicting various ways to orient an L-shaped sofa; a sketch of a custom chair; a profile of a sofa; and working renderings for banquettes at JCT. Kitchen.
A raw frame built of kiln-dried firewood awaits.
A showstopping representation of the retro arm of the business, a circa-1940s Swedish Art Moderne love seat in its original ruby-red velvet.
An assemblage of project supplies: coiled metal springs for eight-way, hand-tied construction, real jute twine, jute webbing, thick cotton welt, sinuous springs and elastic webbing
This nailhead-trimmed beauty, a Bjork Studio original, is called the “Carole” dining chair, and was custom designed for client Carole Davenport.
A decade ago when interior designer Amy Wikman and her engineer husband, Tomas, decided to fuse their passions for aesthetics and precision and form Bjork Studio, they never dreamed it would become the go-to workroom in Atlanta and beyond. But today, commissions for banquettes in fine restaurants (think St. Cecilia) and custom upholstery pieces for designer showhouses and private homes keeps their Swedish-centric vintage furniture and bench-made upholstery business bustling.
Bjork Studio is renowned for superb craftsmanship, exacting processes and authentic materials, and its artisans employ eight-way hand-tied springs, high-quality padding (real horsehair, organic cotton or foam) and burlap or jute twine. It’s an old-world approach that has become far from the norm thanks to cheaper options overseas, or even from other high-end stateside manufacturers.
These bar-raising practices are in full motion at the Wikmans’ Westside workshop, warehouse and studio, which they expanded by 18,000 square feet in late 2013. By summer, Bjork Studio’s new turf will showcase a well-stocked resource library, vast stores of Scandinavian vintage wares, a conference area and showroom vignettes for displaying custom prototypes and a growing variety of signature collections.
Soon, the duo hopes to host industry events for colleagues and collaborators, trunk shows for fabric companies, unveilings of partner rug collections and apprenticeships for upholsterers-in-training. “We truly love the collaborative atmosphere and talent Atlanta has to offer,” Amy says. “We want to build an institution around that, not just a business.”