6 Värmland (Sweden)

Region Värmland

Brunskog, Arvika, Sweden

59°39’25.531” N, 12°53’28.043” E

The curved form of the necklace has been achieved by the handweaving technique called “pulled warp”. This technique gives the possibility to create texture, design, and form both two- and three-dimensional objects by handweaving. The necklace is woven out of 100% linen yarn in both warp and weft. The blue tones are a blend of newly produced Swedish yarn and leftover yarn from the local handweaving association. The material for the inlayed rays in the pattern is natural linen, hand spun out of the short fibres, the scutching tow. This yarn is an inherited treasure that was spun by the artisan’s great grandmother, Ruth in the early 1900s. The fibre was grown, prepared, and spun by hand in Brunskog, where the artisan grew up.

Throughout the ages people in the majority of cultures have adorned themselves with jewellery for different purposes. Ornaments to wear on the body for emphasising one’s status, attraction, affiliation, or religion. Historically and traditionally, jewellery has usually been created through craftsmanship in hard natural materials such as bone, stone, wood and metals. In our culture and craft tradition, the textile material and the woven craft have not been the most common to create jewellery. Woven products such as decorative bands have traditionally been used to adorn clothes etc. but this cannot be seen as jewellery in the traditional sense. In this context, a piece of jewellery is an independent decorative object to be worn on the body for personal adornment, an object that has no practical function to fulfil in relation to other clothing or the like. These woven necklaces are statement pieces that can be worn together with a variety of clothing from simple everyday wear like t-shirts, blouses, and shirts to fine evening wear dresses. These necklaces feel soft to the skin and due to the flax fibres they have a nice heavy drape.

Alongside wool the flaxen fibre and linen yarn has historically been of great importance in Sweden and our region, Värmland and flax was once one of our most important crops. During the middle of the 19th century, linen production was at its largest in, and in some parts of the country linen formed the backbone of the economy. In 2019, linen yarn spun by Therese’s grandfather’s mother, Rut Olsson, was found in a storage room in her family farm’s residential building. This flax was grown on the family property at the beginning of the 20th century and has been prepared and spun by Rut herself. Like many women and housewives at this time, Rut herself also wove the textiles that were needed in the home. Many of Rut’s handwoven and other textiles are preserved in Therese’s childhood home and have been a great inspiration for her desire to learn to weave and for her textile artistry today. The linen yarn in the necklace Skäktefallstralar consists partly of the homespun scutching tow yarn Therese found after her grandfather’s mother Rut Olsson. A thought Therese has carried with her since she first started creating textile jewellery is how we value the textile material and products today. Considering the production of the textile thread and the large amount of resources that go into production of textiles, both natural resources and labour effort, we should value textiles just as highly as we once did. Just as Rut and the generations before her did. The labour efforts in textile production may be somewhat less today, but the impact on the environment is enormous due to the industrial production and our overconsumption. The jewellery form, which has an area of use that has traditionally been seen as profitable and that’s been made from materials that we’ve normally seen as the most valuable, may be one answer. By giving textile material, in this case Ruts linen yarn, a jewellery form like this necklace will be seen as precious and cherished once again.

Arvika and the west parts of Värmland is a region where art and handicrafts have a long and strong tradition and that’s still largely present today. At the turn of the century 1900’s, many Swedish artists came to the area and an artists’ colony, Rackstadkolonin, was established. The new ideas and expressions these artists brought with them along with the well-established and skilled craftsmanship that already existed here have contributed to the well-known arts and crafts area Arvika is today. The arts and crafts are greatly appreciated here by both practitioners, residents and visitors and are seen as a great asset and strong brand for the area. Arvika also has Sweden’s oldest arts and crafts cooperative, Arvika Konsthantverk, established 1922. The cooperative runs their own shop in the city, where the members sell their works and have exhibitions. Arvika was and is a place where artisans operate rooted in tradition and at the same time change and develop their own language in form and expression. Therese has been a member of Arvika Crafts for several years and now works in the spirit of the tradition for arts and crafts that exists in Arvika. At the same time, she develops her own expression for form in a contemporary context with innovation in traditional weaving techniques. Therese has her weaving atelier at Brunskogs Hembygdsgård, the local heritage association open-air museum outside Arvika. This is a place where old houses and buildings have been moved and rebuilt in a natural environment, to preserve knowledge and traditions about how we lived in our built in the old farming society and in the age of self-sufficiency. Gammelvala, meaning the old world, is one annually arranged event, a festival week during the summer where the old way of life, crafts and traditions are displayed in a real-life environment. Here production from preparation to spinning is shown and handweaving can be viewed in the weaving house. The natural and beautiful environment, the community on the homestead and the living traditions contribute to her joy for creating within the textile crafts.

References:

Arvika Konsthantverk. “Historik”. Accessed February 24th, 2024. https://arvikakonsthantverk.se/om-oss/historik.html Bergström, Hans. Arvika Konsthantverk, 100 år av lustfyllt skapande. Sweden, Karlstad: Votum, 2022.

Brunskogs Hembygdsgård. “Välkommen till Brunskogs Hembygdsgård”. Accessed February 24th, 2024. https://

brunskogshembygdsgard.se/

Iverson, Susan. Tapestry with pulled warp: Inspiration, technique, and the creative process. United States: Schiffer Craft, 2024.

Midbö, Liv, Hilda Grahnat and Kristine Thenman. Verkstad, Ett tidsdokument, Arvika Konsthantverk 100 år. Sweden: Arvika Konsthantverk, 2022.

Rackstadmuseet. “Rackstadkollonin”. Accessed February 24th, 2024. https://www.rackstadmuseet.se/om-rackstadmuseet/

om-rackstadkolonin/

Stiftelsen Värmlands Museum och värmlands forminnes- och museiförening. Värmland förr och nu – Lin – Mångfaldens material. Sweden, Ystad: AB Ystads Centraltryckeri, 1992.

Stiftelsen Värmlands Museum och Värmlands museiförening. Värmland förr och nu 2005: Värmlands Hemslöjd 100 år, slöjden tar form. Sweden, Karlstad: AB City Tryck Karlstad, 2005.

To learn more about this initiative or artisan: https://www.facebook.com/sirlitextil https://www.instagram.com/sirli_textil/ https://arvikakonsthantverk.se/medlemmar/therese-henner.html