Celebrating
60 years
of Lundby of Sweden
Dollhouses,
1947-2007
A village named Lundby served as the cradle and the namesake for a very successful dollhouse company. Lundby of Sweden was established after World War II by Axel and Grete Thomsen in the northern part of Gothenburg. The company later designated 1947 as its official start-up year.
Grete
was very clever at designing dollhouse furniture for her niece (the first
piece she made was an armchair, upholstered with a colorful scrap of curtain
material and stuffed with wadding), so her husband, Axel, decided to try
selling the furniture. The department store, Ferdinand Lundquist (later
NK), in Gothenburg was the first to place an order of 350 SEK. The demand
for Lundby dollhouse furniture increased, and in 1948 the Thomsens moved
their fledgling company from their basement in the
Business flourished, although in the summer of 1950 the company was almost completely destroyed by fire. The most important papers survived, orders could be completed, and production continued at various temporary places in Lerum until a new factory could be built. The range of products also increased to include a dollhouse, which was produced in the same scale (1:15 to 1:18) that is still used today.
Per Börnfelt Joins FirmWhen another fire in 1959 burnt out the nearby Lerro factory, owned by a well-known Swedish house interior designer, Per Börnfelt, the Thomsens offered him a partnership. Börnfelt accepted the proposal and designed for Lundby until his retirement. In 1967, 35,000 dollhouses were produced in Lerum.
From
that time onward, the fame of Lundby dollhouses spread throughout
1950s Electrified
House
(photo courtesy of Sue Morse)
1960s Gothenburg
House
(photo courtesy of Sue Morse)
Dark
clouds were approaching on the horizon, however, in the form of electronic
toys, which appeared on the market in the late 1970s. As Lundby continued
to expand globally during the 1980s, more production was moved abroad.
Lundby experienced its first crisis in 1982, when the company suffered
from overexpansion. Businessman Stefan Karlsten purchased Lundby that
year and moved the company’s production facilities in
New Factory
in Olslanda
With the help of a
heavy input of capital from the Swedish government, Lundby started up
again in 1984 and reestablished its factory in Olslanda, also outside
Gothenburg. It was during the 1980s that Lundby made its greatest expansion
when the company acquired the British firm, A. Barton Toys, Lisa of Denmark,
and Plasty GmbH, a German firm that marketed the
1970s
Stockholm House
(photo courtesy of Sue Morse)
1980s
Manor House
(photo courtesy of 2000 Vänersborg
Museum Exhibit)
The good times didn’t last, unfortunately, and the company faced further financial difficulties. By 1993 Lundby was acquired by the ScanBox Danmark Group, which also owned the Brio Corporation. In 1994 Lundby was distributed by Brio. Before Lundby folded, however, the museum in Vänersborg succeeded in buying a set of dollhouses from the entire producing period for a symbolic amount of SEK 1.250 or USD850!
Micki Leksaker
Buys Production Rights
Finally, in 1997 Micki
Leksaker A/B purchased the rights to produce Lundby. Two years later in
1999, Micki introduced a fresh, exciting line of Lundby, including the
Gothenburg dollhouse and a complete line of furniture. In 2005 Micki designers
offered the first new Lundby dollhouse in over 15 years with the newly
designed “2005
Every year has been filled with exciting developments for Lundby. And the success story continues into 2007, the 60th year of Lundby of Sweden dollhouses.
1990s Norrland
House
(photo courtesy of Sue Morse)
2005 Stockholm
House
(photo courtesy of 2005 Lundby catalog)