Gubi Modern Line Low Lounge Chair, 1949

Modern Line low lounge chair by Greta Grossman for Gubi.

Greta M. Grossman (1906-1999) was a Swedish designer and architect who emigrated to the US in the 1940s. An enthusiastic proponent of European modernism, Grossman played a significant role in defining the aesthetic of the mid-century Californian design. Today, her designs are highly collectable and much sought after, and are noted for their lightness of form and elegant lines.

Designed in 1949, the Modern Line collection bears all the hallmarks of Grossman’s sophisticated minimalism, and was particularly praised for being representative of her roots in Scandinavian design. Grossman herself noted that the design evolved “out of our own preference for living in a modern way.”

Modern Line was also a pioneering product in terms of its use of new materials and technology, taking advantage of industrialised upholstering methods and championing the use of Nozag springs.