Swedish designer Estrid Ericson is said to have loved entertaining in her apartment in a classic building on Strandvägen Street, just above her boutique facing Stockholm harbor. Those who frequented her home confirmed that she was a mediocre cook. But it didn't matter. Guests didn't come to fill their bellies but to feast their eyes. Born in 1894, Ericson had turned the art of dining into an art in itself. "Food was matched to the tableware, but something had to stand out and arouse astonishment," said decorator Karin Södergren, who is responsible for the store's layout.

Almost a century later, the Strandvägen boutique remains the only physical address for the Svenskt Tenn brand, which generates a very large proportion of its sales on its website. Now a tourist attraction in Stockholm, it is also a must for design aficionados. Dressed all in black, its employees continue to apply its founder's principles.

Throughout the store, vases of freshly cut flowers adorn the furniture. Every Monday morning, Ericson brought back armfuls of them from her country home in southern Stockholm. Svenskt Tenn was much more than a decorative boutique: "Estrid wanted to create a magical world," said Per Ahldén, the collections and archives manager, wearing tortoiseshell glasses and a bow tie.

At the entrance, two earthenware dogs welcome visitors. Some come to shop. Others come to stroll or seek inspiration. There are those who grew up with the brand; those who accidentally discovered that they unknowingly owned Svenskt Tenn objects, usually inherited; and others, often younger, who discovered it in magazines or on decoration websites.

On Strandvägen Street, the store layout changes with the seasons. Like a museum, the 1,700-square-meter space features all the brand's most emblematic creations: the pewter lion by sculptor Anna Petrus; the enormous Liljevalchs sofa designed by Austrian architect Josef Frank in 1934 for Ericson's apartment, with its tapestries and floral fabrics; and the Knot of Friendship candle holder that Frank designed on the eve of the Second World War, which has since become a bestseller.

Timeless pieces

A showcase and flagship, the boutique opened its doors in 1927, three years after the birth of the Svenskt Tenn brand. The store has been expanded several times since. The decoration has been tirelessly redone. And yet, Ericson, who died in 1981, seems never to have left the premises. Large black-and-white portraits hang on the wall, displaying her mischievous gaze, while upstairs, behind a glass wall, you can admire her studio, where a long wooden table stands opposite a wall of shelves, filled with shells, knick-knacks brought back from her travels and personal creations.

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