Lars Sjöberg a man of passion

I seem to write a lot about lost heritage but it's because it's something that touches me deeply.

I had the idea for my next build to work on a Swedish manor house and take inspiration from the amazing Lars Sjöberg and his dedication to the saving and restoration of Swedish heritage.

Over the years Lars and his wife have saved and restored many Swedish country houses and in the pure tradition of the build. He has sourced the furniture where possible and learnt to build what he could not find. 

Lars has written and co written several books of which these two are the most well known. I have them both and then some as the Swedish style is one of my favorites.

This style was introduced by King Gustav III who had visited Versailles and decided to emulate it's style in the North of Sweden in the late 1780's. In Sweden the houses and manors were build mostly of wood as it was the resource most available and adapted to the climate. Although much of the furniture was gilded it was mainly a painted version with only some gold detail. Having no exotic woods available the act of painting the finished furniture hid and embellished the pieces giving them a unique stule of their own. 

Following the French Revolution in 1789 the Swedish court purchased many pieces from the sale of the contents of the Palace of Versailles which had been stripped of it's contents.

This is the Chateau REGNAHOLM which was an ongoing restoration of over 40 years by Lars and his wife Ursula and was going to be my inspiration for a future build.

Last night I did some research and realised that back in 2017 this house BURNT DOWN!

I was horrified as I had followed the build over the years, the saving of the structure, the decor and the finding and making of the furniture. For me it epitomised the Gustavien style and the result of a mans dedication to the craft of restoration. The house had survived the horrid bland restorations of the 20th century and had remained much as it had been in it's heyday.

This is the first image I saw last night of the house as it was on the day of the fire.

Below are some of the rooms before the fire. Lars' father actually build the table which was destroyed when a beam fell on it taking most of the chairs with it. This chair became a best seller in it's IKEA version. 

One of the bedrooms.

This is all that is left of these rooms today. You can see poor Lars stunned by the disaster. Insurance money only covered the putting up of scaffolding and covering the roof to prevent further damage. Lars hopes that the country will realise how important it is to save and preserve this manor house and participate in it's reconstrution. A huge undertaking.

Lars Sjöberg 

Lars Erik Johan Sjöberg was born in 1941 and is amongst many other titles a sculptor, author and graphic artist. He had previously held the post of curator at the National Museum in Stockholm. Lars also was Advisor to Ikea in the 1990's where he introduced the Gustavien style to the shop. Lars also is involved in training people in historical building maintenance, historical furniture carpentry and iron forging at the Wooden Academy in Kramfors Sweden.

Lars and his wife purchased the farm with its five main buildings in 1966 and have dedicated most of their lives to it's restoration.