Kajsa Strinning, 1952 (b/w photo)

The designers of the Swedish String shelf. Kajsa Strinning. Born January 27 1922, dead December 20 2017. Swedish architect and designer pictured here in her home and in the livingroom where a String bookshelf is visible on the wall. The Architect couple Nisse Strinning (1917-2006) and Kajsa Strinning (1922-2017) debuted as designers with a humble plate rack using steel wire, a technique that would be refined over the years. In 1949, they created a Scandinavian design classic when the String shelf won the Bonnier Folk Library competition. A few years later, in 1954, String earned them their first international design prize, a gold medal at the Milan Triennial. As recently as 2020, String® was awarded the Long Life Design award in Japan.