Born to a Jewish family in Baden, Austria, Josef Frank was an architect and designer who came of age in pre-war Vienna. He graduated from the Technische Hochschule (Polytechnic) in 1910 and taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) until the mid-1920s. An associate of the Wiener Werkstätte, Frank founded his own interior design firm Haus & Garten in 1925 with Oskar Wlach (1881-1963) and Walter Sobotka (1888-1972). During this venture Frank wrote several design treatises including Architektur als Symbol (1931). Frank married Anna Sebenius, a Swedish woman, in 1912 and in 1933 began designing for the Stockholm-based interior design company Svenkst Tenn. Although he immigrated to Sweden and adopted Swedish citizenship in 1938, Frank spent World War II in the United States teaching at the New School for Social Research in New York. In 1946 Frank returned to Sweden, continuing work with Svenkst Tenn until his death in 1967. Frank is considered to be one of the pioneers of Swedish modern design and the “Scandinavian Style.”

Founded by Estrid Ericson in 1924, the Stockhlm studio and shop Svenskt Tenn (Swedish Tin) originally specialized in pewterware. After the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, Ericson restructured the firm as a furnishings company specializing in the functionalist design exhibited at the fair. In 1933 Ericson hired the Austrian architect and designer Josef Frank to be the firm’s chief designer, allowing her to focus on the company’s business matters. Svenskt Tenn is still operating in Stockholm.