Fuglen Oslo

Fuglen at Universitetsgata 2 in Oslo is a coffee shop during the day and a cocktail bar in the evening. It has an amazing selection of mid-century furniture most of which is for sale. I drank my coffee sitting in a classic Stressless, produced by Ekornes and launched in 1971 and fortunately no one asked me to move so that they could buy the chair and foot stool.

Open every day, Fuglen seems to be very popular with both students and business people so is busy most of the time.

Fuglen and Blomqvist, the art auction House in Oslo, have recently curated a major exhibition of Norwegian design. I missed it in Oslo as it has just been taken to Tokyo before going on to New York. Called Norwegian Icons, the exhibition includes major pieces of furniture from the period 1940-1975 with glassware and ceramics and photographs of the Norwegian landscape by Rune Johansen and others to place the furniture within its context. Published by Fuglen Forag with photographs of all the pieces and brief pen portraits of the designers, the catalogue for the exhibition will help to re-establish Norway's place in the history of mid-century design.