Like many talented industrial designers of his generation, Terje Ekstrøm had one foot in crafts and the other in industry. He trained as a cabinet maker and upholsterer before studying interior and furniture design at the National College of Art and Design in Oslo, Norway. Ekstrøm’s work contributed to a new vitality and independence to the Norwegian design scene of the 70s and 80s, at a time of significant cultural and social change. Ekstrøm represented a new generation of designers who challenged the ideas of Scandinavian design. Although he is today seen as one of Norway’s first postmodern designers, Ekstrøm’s original output and its mediation is also connected to the ideals of the modern movement and later pop culture.