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DESIGNER PORTRAIT
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Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906–1999) was an early pioneer in the
male dominated worlds of mid-century industrial and interior design
and architecture, gaining international recognition for her work. She
was born in Helsingborg, Sweden into a family of cabinetmakers.
Following in their footsteps, she became the first woman in the
workshop when she undertook a woodworking apprenticeship at a
young age.
In 1933, she married jazz musician Billy Grossman – and with the
onset of the Second World War, the couple decided to emigrate to
the United States. Upon arrival in California in 1940, she opened
a well-publicized store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, where she
was among the first to bring the Scandinavian modern aesthetic to
southern California’s burgeoning modernist scene.
Grossman’s unique approach to Swedish modernism was a hit in Los
Angeles. For her, good design was fundamentally humanistic; its role
was to support people’s daily lives in a relevant and engaging way,
and personal and social wellbeing were key considerations.
1906 - 1999
Greta M. Grossman
