Object
Ericofon, Kobra
Plastic
21,40 x 11,00 x 10,00 cm
, 1956 - 1982/1983
RKM 15-1986
Gift from Lennart Svensson
On display in Design Stories room 3
Description
In 1941, workers at LM Ericsson’s new factory in Midsommarkransen started to develop wooden models of a one-piece telephone. The extremely streamlined shape was designed by Ralph Lysell, who worked in the US during the 1930s and was influenced by Raymond Loewy and other American designers. However, a one-piece telephone, with all the functions in one piece, could not be manufactured until 1953. It was only then that the requirements for low weight and sound quality could be fulfilled. Gösta Thames, who was the man responsible for Kobra and its design in the final stages, says that they allowed a group of around 20 people from the staff look at hundreds of plastic samples before deciding which colours to use. The original colours were blue-grey, red, ivory, mint green, dark blue and yellow. The telephone was soon manufactured in other colours, such as pink. Advertisements from the end of the 1950s show American housewives in house robes using pink Kobras. Millions of the Ericofonen, or Kobra telephone as it is popularly known, have been made over almost 30 years.
Exhibition History
Design Stories, Göteborg, Röhsska museet, 2024
Röhsska museets formhistoria – 1851 till idag, Göteborg, Röhsska museet, 16/01/2004 - 27/03/2022