The Scandinavian office design came from the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It emerged in the 1930s and was inspired by the region’s cold, dark winter days and thus the desire to make furnishings cozy and bright. With an intent to be simple, functional and well-made, Scandinavian design garnered much popularity and eventually spread to America and Europe in the 1950s, around the same time as the Modernist movement. A dramatic shift in the way buildings were designed, the Modern aesthetic favored sleek, streamlined edges and a strong emphasis on rectangular forms with distinct horizontal and vertical lines. The Scandinavian office decor absorbed much of these same elements and principles, making it clean, neutral and easily adaptable to most environments.