Our story begins with an entrepreneur, a necessity, a sense of adventure and a discovered passion.

The adventurous spirit of our founder is a great source of pride and inspiration for all of us at Scandinavian Designs | Dania Furniture. In 1963, our founder, Erling Eide, attended a furniture design show in Stavanger, Norway looking for his next business opportunity. He purchased a single container of Scandinavian furniture, and the sellers agreed to give him modest credit on a handshake. "That's how business was done over there in those days," he recalls. Shortly after Mr. Eide attended the furniture show in 1963, he opened a small Scandinavian Designs showroom in the well-populated business district of San Rafael, California.

Business was a success from the get-go; beginning as a one-man operation, Mr. Eide worked in every position the business required. He took trips to Scandinavian furniture fairs to place orders, picked up furniture shipments from the Pier in San Francisco, displayed products in the store, advertised in the local newspaper and personally sold and delivered the furniture. Mr. Eide recalls filling out delivery orders by hand before loading the furniture in the back of his station wagon and hand-delivering it to the requested addresses. “Sofas were particularly difficult to deliver!” Mr. Eide recalls, but he speaks fondly of this time in his career. He still appreciates the relationships with his early customers, recounting stories of how they would insist that he sit and join them for dinner after an evening delivery, and how they became loyal to his philosophy on modern design.

Mr. Eide is the man who went on to furnish mid-century modern homes on the West Coast in the 1960's and 1970's. Scandinavian Designs soon became a clear proponent of Mid-Century Modern design. The fresh, minimalistic aesthetic brought to so many homes went hand in hand with what is known today as California Modern style.

During the 1950s and 60s, the San Francisco Bay Area saw an architectural boom which resulted in a plethora of Eichler homes that defined quintessential Mid-Century Modern style. Joseph Eichler crafted innovative homes with mass appeal that were a blend of modern living and affordable style. The clean lines and minimalistic style of these architectural gems blended easily with the modern, simple furniture styles that were being propelled to the forefront by Scandinavian Designs.

The Scandinavian Designs family grew in the early 1980s with the launch of sister company Dania Furniture, expanding the company into the Pacific Northwest and Chicago areas. Today, there are Scandinavian Designs | Dania Furniture store locations across the United States.

We've come a long way since 1963, and we are proud to call ourselves a family business 60+ years in the making. Today, Mr. Eide's sons have joined him at the helm, having been inspired over the years by the entrepreneurial spirit that still drives Scandinavian Designs | Dania Furniture. We've grown from a single showroom on the West Coast selling Scandinavian furniture to a national brand with 40+ showrooms full of furniture from across the globe. The foundation and history of this family business is based on valuing authenticity and honoring our obligations. Our entire team embraces these principles and strives to deliver the best customer service and the finest quality products at an exceptional value.