Bengt-Johan Gullberg studied architecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm during the 1930’s and in Germany 1938-39. Son of the famous Swedish textile designer Elsa Gullberg, Bengt-Johan worked as the CEO of her company Elsa Gullberg Textilier och Inredning from 1948-54. In the company store at Hamngatan in Stockholm, Elsa Gullberg´s textiles were shown together with Bengt-Johans furniture and his well-known Gullberglamp made with a wooden construction with textiles ribbons as glare protection. The lamp came to be while Gullberg was working together with photographer KW Gullers, taking pictures of Elsa Gullbergs textiles, and they searched for a way to get a more beautiful light. Gullberg experimented with textile ribbons in front of the lamps, which was successful.
In 1946 Gullberg designed a series of cabinets for kitchens called Gullbergs Byggbara, that could be combined in different ways, and was groundbreaking in its construction based on modules. During the early 1950’s Gullberg made the interior and furnishings for the student spaces at Karolinska Institute in Solna. One of the furniture he created was an armchair called Vilfåtölj (eng. Resting chair) produced by his own company Gullberg Trading Company in 1953. The armchair is now a part of the collection at the Museum of Furniture Studies.
While working at Elsa Gullberg Textilier och Inredning, Gullberg designed for Swedish companies such as SCA, ASEA and AGA. Bengt-Johan Gullberg passed away in 2015 at the age of 96.
