Rare Tønnestav dining set in rosewood byKurt S Rungsøe for Tynes Møbelfabrikk, Norway 1960.

A rare Tønnestav dining set executed in rosewood veneer designed by Kurt S Rungsøe for Tynes Møbelfabrik, Norway 1960. This beautiful set of stackable rosewood dining chairs with a matching minimalist foldable dining table was produced for only a very short period of time in 1960. The continuous formed wood slats of the chairs are made of plywood rosewood veneered slats. The design of the table is amazingly simple and minimalistic. The extending leaf (width 55 cm) is simply hung at one end of the table and supported by extending two metal tubes. The table top is finished with a rosewood veneer with a graphic stripe grain pattern, which is also wonderfully finished around the tables edges.
The table is light and very easy to disassemble in order to store it. The tubular chromed legs can be easily put off, this way the table consists from four parts that hardly take any space. Both table and chairs are in excellent restored condition. Some fading of color remained visible on the extending leaf. All parts of this dining set are marked with a Made in Norway stamp underneath.

In addition to this dining set we have four more Tønnestav dining chairs available. These are finished with a teak veneer and still have the original (more glossy) finish.
However, despite the difference in color and finish we think they would be perfectly suitable in order to add four more chairs to this rosewood dining set.

Dimensions:
Table : D 72 cm x W 140-195 cm x H 72 cm
Chair: D 49 cm x W 58 cm x H 83 cm

The resemblance of the Tønnestav chair with Hans Brattrud’s Scandia chair is obvious. It caused a bit of a stir in the Norwegian design community in 1960 when it became the cause of a court case between Richardsens manufacturers Tynes Møbelfabrikk and Hove Møbelfabrik, the manufacturer of Brattruds 1957 Scandia chair.
Richardsen was accused of plagiarism. It should be added that Richardsen and Brattrud went to design school together in the 1950’s. Laminated bentwood was the new thing at the time and it seems quite likely that the original idea for both Tønnestav and Scandia could come from a common project. Nevertheless, Brattrud won the case and the Tønnestav chair, put in production in 1960, was taken out of production later the same year.
Very few of these pieces were produced, which makes it a rare set -with a remarkable design history- that would work really well in any design collection.
The Norvegian museum Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, has a “Lenestol’ from the Tønnestav series in their design collection (Identifier NMK.2008.0618).