Hand printed in Sweden
When I was 11, my mother moved to a small town called Floda, right outside of Gothenburg, Sweden. She furnished our house with textiles from the local printing mill down the road, Ljungbergs Textiltryck. The small mill specalized in hand screen printed linens, cottons and velvets which were available for purchase by the meter in the factory shop. I picked a velvet fabric with a pink ground and colorful squares for the chair in my room. I remember walking over to the shop on weekends where I would go through the scrap bin, searching for fabrics for early sewing experiments. As I got older, I understood the central role that Ljungbergs had in the production of artist designed textiles in Sweden.
Erik Ljungberg (1907-1983) was one of the pioneering screen printers in the country. With a background in lithography and textiles, he started experimenting with the technique in 1935 and established his own printing mill in 1947. Designs by Josef Frank, Astrid Sampe, Sven Markelius, Arne Jacobsen and Alvar Aalto were all printed in Floda as NK:s Textilkammare and Svenskt Tenn became regular clients. Erik Ljungberg became known as a master printer and colorist who understood and inspired the artists he collaborated with.
Perhaps informed by this early influence, I eventually pursued printmaking and became a textile designer myself. While this mill sadly has folded, I decided to commission one of the few remaining hand screen printers in Sweden to manufacture my own printed fabric by the meter, Edge. It is made from 100% linen and suitable for light upholstery and accessories.
Fabrics from Ljungbergs
Sources:
Christina Fredriksen, Intervju med Erik Ljungberg, Röhsska Konstslöjdsmuseet, Göteborg, 1980
Gisela Eronn, Tidlösa Mönster - Textilkonst från 1950-talet, Stockholm: Norstedts, 2010
Image sources:
Nationalmuseum, Bukowskis, Auktionsverket, Art Institute of Chicago