In 1949, the leading Swedish publishing house Bonniers realised that people would likely buy more books if they had somewhere to put them. With this in mind, Bonniers launched a competition calling for a shelving solution that was affordable, easy to ship, easy assemble and easy to install. Married couple Bils and Kajsa Strinning entered and won the competition with their ingenious solution: a flexible, elegant and minimalist shelving system that could be mounted on any wall and voilà: String^® was born. The design met with immediate success and Nils Strinning rose to fame as one of the most influential designers of the Scandinavian modern era.