An architect and designer of furniture, Sandell is definitely the best known of the new generation of Swedish designers. In certain of his public utterances, he himself speaks of "Swedish style" design, of qualities shared in common between him and his fellow Swedes. From the choice of materials, wood, brick, to their shared values: "A profound sense of nature and a concern for eco-sustainability".
Born in 1959 at Jacobstad in Finland, his family moved to Sweden in the same year. He studied architecture and took his degree at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1981.
He has won various prizes for his interior design and furniture projects. He is assistant professor at the Stockholm School of Architecture, and has been lecturer in art and design at a number of universities, in Stockholm and Copenhagen.
He is a board member of three architecture and design organizations. Since 1966, he has been on the didactic committee of the Beckman School of Design and is the president of the Association of Swedish Architects.