Greta M. Grossman

Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906–1999) was a Swedish architect and designer, regarded as one of the key figures of California Mid-Century modernism thanks to her prolific activity in Los Angeles between the 1940s and the 1960s. Born Greta Magnusson into a family of cabinetmakers in Helsingborg, she trained in Sweden as a furniture designer and architect before marrying British jazz musician Billy Grossman in 1933. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the couple moved to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, where they opened the Magnusson-Grossman Studio on the famous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Specializing in Scandinavian-style furniture and lighting as well as interior design, the showroom soon became a cult destination frequented by Hollywood stars such as Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, and Frank Sinatra. During these years, Greta M. Grossman also worked extensively as an architect, overseeing the complete design and construction of more than fourteen houses in Los Angeles. Stylistically, she was strongly influenced by the International Style that many European architects—often connected to Bauhaus experiences—were introducing to the United States at the time. She combined this influence with references to her Scandinavian heritage and with distinctly Californian sensibilities, favoring soft, warm-toned surfaces and airy, light-filled interiors. Her most famous furniture designs, now instantly associated with Mid-Century style, are today successfully reissued by the Danish brand Gubi. In 2025, her Half Moon coffee table was also reissued by the Italian brand Paola Lenti. From 1966 onward, Grossman withdrew from architectural practice and spent the last thirty years of her life in relative seclusion, devoting herself primarily to landscape painting.