BRAND SPOTLIGHT
The String System has lived on walls since 1949, and over those decades it has grown a considered palette of paint colours and wood finishes that lets the same modular logic suit almost any room. For 2026, String adds dark oak shelves and cabinets paired with dark brown steel panels, and the introduction brings a genuinely new material character to the system. The wood carries real grain and tonal depth, the kind of surface that warms a wall rather than simply organising it.
Dark oak has roots in 1930s Scandinavian interiors, where the deep, warm tone gave rooms a sense of gravitas, and that lineage carries straight into the String range. String specifies 100% FSC-certified wood, recycled steel, and water-based lacquer across the series, made in Sweden. The result sits naturally in rooms built around aged brass, natural textiles, and dark-stained timber, where the grain of the shelves becomes part of the warmth of the space.
The dark oak release runs across the full system, from individual shelves and cabinets to the desk and the self-contained String Pocket. Here is how each part of the range behaves in a room.
The String System in Dark Oak and Dark Brown
The String System is a component shelving system, meaning you build it from individual panels, shelves, desks, and cabinets rather than buying a fixed unit. Wall panels and floor panels come in dark brown powder-coated steel. Shelves, work desks, cabinets with swing and sliding doors, the display cabinet with sliding glass door, and the magazine shelf are all available in dark oak veneer. Both the 58cm and 78cm shelf widths are available, in 20cm and 30cm depths, so the configuration range for dark oak is the same as for the rest of the system.
The dark brown panels read as a warm near-neutral. Set against the dark oak wood, they recede slightly, letting the grain of the shelves and cabinet faces carry the visual weight of the wall. In a room with aged brass hardware, natural textiles, or dark-stained timber, the system settles in as part of the architecture, closer to fitted millwork than to freestanding furniture.
Dark oak has a grain depth and richness that settles into a room rather than sitting on top of it. Against the brown panels, it reads like millwork, the kind of wall treatment you would expect in a room that has been considered over time.
Jenna, Interior Design Specialist
Because the String System is modular, dark oak components can be combined with other String finishes on the same wall. A run of dark oak shelves flanking a white panel section reads well in rooms where you want warmth in one zone and brightness in another, such as a reading alcove beside a lighter workspace. The String Planner is the right tool for mapping this out before ordering. Plan your String configuration with the String Planner.
String Pocket in Dark Oak and Dark Brown
The String Pocket was Nisse Strinning's last design for the system, introduced in 2005. It ships as a complete unit: two dark brown steel side panels and three dark oak shelves, wall-mounted and self-contained at 50cm (19.7") high by 60cm (23.6") wide by 15cm (5.9") deep. It is a standalone piece that carries the same visual language as the larger system.
The Pocket's scale suits rooms that call for a single, focused shelf rather than a full wall of storage: above a bench in an entryway, on a narrow home office wall, or in a bedroom where the bedside table is already spoken for. At this size the dark oak grain sits close to the eye, and the richness of the tone gives a small footprint real presence on the wall.
The Pocket is available now in dark oak at Habitus. View the String Pocket in dark oak and dark brown.
Dark oak gives the String System a warm, grounded presence that suits rooms layered with natural materials and deeper tones. The shelves, cabinets, desk, and Pocket all share the same FSC-certified wood and water-based lacquer finish, made in Sweden, so a configuration reads as one piece even as it grows across a wall. The String Planner is the easiest way to map out a build from scratch or extend an arrangement you already own, letting you test combinations before you order.
