Ingrid Larssen and the Smocking technique

Ingrid Larssen and the Smocking technique

Ingrid Larssen is an artist that lives in Stokmarknes. She is using smocking as her main technique (vaffelsøm). She uses it in different sizes, and she makes small broches and big decorations that can hang on a wall. Her main material is wool, silk, thread and seaweed.

lofotenmap

iain

Norwegian

Intangible

716

30/09/2025

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current,68.570175,14.940784;

TEXT

https://culturality.museum/wiki/index.php/Ingrid_Larssen_and_the_Smocking_technique

1752

Art is often connected to the culture in wich it appears. Ingrid Larssen has a close connection to sea and the coastal culture and the traditions connected to the area.

Julie Therese Sæther

You have know how to sow and you have to know how to color materials with natural ingredients.

From her mother and in sowingschool.

Sowing is tradtionally connected to women, and in the old days it was very common for women to be seamstresses. Ingrid learned her first stiches from her mother. Nowadays most of us have to learn it in school.

Sowing is getting trendy again because peolpe are looking into reuse of clothes and material. It is a movement based in and against our modern society use- and throw- away mentality.

The tecnic smocking (vaffelsøm) stems from the middleages, and havent changed much. The needles may have changed a bit, they are smaller and thinner now.

Different sowing schools in Norway

Ingrid Larssen and her pratice is associated with Stokmarknes and Vesterålen.

Water pollution

The practioner uses seaweed and plants to color the textiles. Pollution may disrtort the coloringprocess.

I dont know if any of these fit. She is not involved in industrial production, she is not looking for new technologies and she uses "old" materials such as wool and silk.

Outbreak of war or armed conflict

This may harm all of us.

I don´t think any of these fit eather, her work isnt threathened by any of these factors.

Diminishing youth interest

The practice of smocking may be threatened if the young doesn't learn it anymore.

Insufficient financial resources

With more funding she could have had more exhibitions and maybe taken in apprentices and opend a workshop outside of her home.

Educational standardisation

I have the impression that fewer students are learning to sow in school. 30 years ago we learnt how to sow our own clothes, today they do some steaching on a little cloth.

Rural-urban migration

People often move away from Vesterålen, when they move. This may mean less visitors to exhibitions.

New pastimes

The may also mean that fewer attend artexhibitions.

Loss of knowledge

The loss of knowledge regarding sowing and coloring with plants.

Vesterålen is an old region where people have lived since the stoneage. Hadsel municipality has traces of a lot of activity in the ironage and the vikingage especially. The region has been depentent on fisheries and people has a strong connection to the sea. The coastal steamer, hurtigruta, was astablished in Stokmarknes in 1893. Today there are to small cities i Vesterålen, Stokmarknes and Sortland, the rest of us live in small villages. Approximately 30000 people live in Vesterålen.

Needles, scissors and graph paper

Inclusivity and community development. People can look at artwork where they are and see that it is possible to have it as a job.

Yes she uses natural, renewable, locally sourced material and she leaves no waste. The material she uses can be found in shops and in nature in Vesterålen.

She contributes to the economy of Hadsel municipality by paying taxes and creating her own job.

Decent Work and Economic Growth,Sustainable Cities and Communities,Responsible Consumption and Production

Stokmarknes, Vesterålen, Norway

stable

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