Designer Desire: Viola Gråsten

Montage of designs by Viola Gråsten | H is for Home

Viola Gråsten (1910-1994) was a leading Finnish textile designer. Her most well-known pattern is probably Oomph (pictured at the very top of the montage above) which was printed in a number of colourways.

Some of the fabric patterns that she designed include Sparv (1959) and Hassel for Ljungbergs; the striped Snark blankets (see above) for Tidstrand; Tulipuu, Såpbubblor, Casa (1954) and Kalas (1955) for Swedish department store, Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) and Pelagonia (1965) and Kastanj (1966) for Mölnlycke Tuppen AB.

Her eye-catching rug designs produced for Elsa Gullberg’s Textiles and Interior in Stockholm have come to be known as Gråstens colours. She also produced a great many rug designs for the aforementioned, NK Textilkammare.

There are currently a number of her textile designs available on Etsy – including rugs, blankets and lengths of fabric.

I’ve come across a book by Anne-Marie Ericsson, Viola Gråsten och modernismen i svensk textilkonst (Viola Gråsten and modernism in Swedish textile art), that delves into the history of her creations.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Additional image credits:

Artnet | Auctionet | Bukowskis

Designer Desire: Gillian Farr

Montage of Gillian Farr fabric designs | H is for Home

When we featured Juliet Glynn-Smith in last week’s Designer Desire post, we discovered the work of Gillian Farr who was one of her contemporaries at Terence Conran Fabrics Ltd.

Two of Farr’s best known patterns for Conran are Master Tuggie’s and Gilliflower; both from 1964, the latter winning a Cotton Board Awards prize that year.

Prior to working at Terence Conran Fabrics, Farr was part of Liberty of London’s studio in the 1950s where she designed their now re-issued Mitsi print (the 5 colourways can be seen at the bottom of the montage). She later created Mirabelle – also re-issued – for the company in 1962 (the 3 colourways are at the top of the montage).

According to Anna Buruma, Liberty Archivist and author of Liberty and Co. in the Fifties and Sixties: A Taste for Design, she designed the pattern, circa 1964, of the pictured Jean Muir Liberty-print silk dress that once belonged to Joanna Lumley.

Gillian Farr’s work is included in a new exhibition (which runs until Sunday 2 June 2019) at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Her work also features in the accompanying book by Geoffrey Rayner and Richard Chamberlain (to be published 25th Feb 2019).

Additional image credits:
Kerry Taylor Auctions

Designer Desire: Juliet Glynn-Smith

Various designs by Juliet Glynn-Smith | H is for Home

We first featured Juliet Glynn-Smith (b. 1939) on our blog when we acquired a sheet of kitchen cards that she designed for Habitat. As well as being responsible for the illustrations in the shop’s very first catalogue she produced a number of textile designs for Conran Fabrics. These include ‘Prince of Quince’ (1965); the children’s designs, ‘Jackanapes’ and ‘Toy Cupboard’; ‘Lollipop’ (1966); ‘Petals in the Sky’ and ‘Daisy Spray’ from their Firecracker Collection (1969).

Although she’s best known for her Habitat work, she has also created designs for other firms. One such company is Hunkydory Designs Ltd. Three of the brand’s wrapping papers are included in the montage above; ‘Big Heart’, ‘Big Flower’ and ‘Big Stripe’, all from 1970. Also above are her ‘Fauna’ greetings cards and ‘Santa’ Christmas cards which she designed for the company the same year.

She worked for Parkertex – for whom she created the ‘Fanfare’ fabric design in 1968 – and for German company, Rasch doing designs for their ‘Contempora’ and ‘Künstler’ textile collections in 1973.

For Christmas 1967, Glynn-Smith designed a psychedelic screen print poster which advertised Thursday late night shopping at D.H Evans, an Oxford Street department store (now a branch of House of Fraser).

‘Zig zig’ and ‘Polygon’ (pictured side-by-side above) were two wrapping paper designs made under the name of Glynn Smith Associates in 1972.

As well a textiles and paper, Juliet Glynn-Smith also produced designs that were used on metalware. The square Britannia serving tray, included above, was for Reginald Corfield Ltd. in 1966. We’ve come across a pair of ‘Sprig’ storage tins for previously mentioned, Hunkydory Designs Ltd.

Image credits:

Pinterest | Shelf Appeal | V&A | Visual Arts Data Service

Designer Desire: Barbro Nilsson

Mosaic of Barbro Nilsson rugs | H is for Home

We’ve featured quite a few Scandinavian designers in this series however, we think Barbro Nilsson is the first textile designer.

Barbro Nilsson (1899-1983) was a Swedish designer who specialised in weaving floor rugs, wall hangings and carpets. Her pieces are hugely commercial and sought after; some selling for over $100,000 at auction and over double that at retail outlets!

The Swedish Rug Blog has a very in-depth article about Nilsson and many of her works – go check it out!

Portrait of Barbro Nilssoncredit

Additional image credits:

Bukowskis | FJ Hakimian