Elsa Gullberg Explained

Elsa Gullberg (14 March 1886 – 1 March 1984) was a Swedish interior architect and textile designer.^{[1] [2]} She was a pioneer of modern textile design in Sweden and played an instrumental role in transforming the textile industry.^{[3] [4]} She was one of the renowned Swedish textile designers including Erik Wettergren, Carl Bergsten and Gregor Paulsson, who worked to modernize textile industries in Sweden.^{[5] [6]}

Biography

Elsa Gullberg was born on 14 March 1886 in Malmö, Sweden. She studied textile crafts at the Art and Design School in Stockholm.^[7] After completing her studies, she started her career as an assistant to Lilli Zickerman, an influential figure in textile design, at the Association for Swedish Homework.

She was part of a group of reformers who wanted to modernize the production process of Swedish textile industries. She visited a number of textile firms in different countries to incorporate new ideas in the Swedish textile sector. She was highly influenced by the designing and production process undertaken at the Deutscher Werkbund and Dresdner Werkstätte in Germany, and the Wiener Werkstätte in Austria.^[8]

The Swedish Society of Crafts and Design was reorganized in 1915. The educational practices related to arts and crafts were redesigned in line with modernizing Swedish textile industries.^[9]

In 1927, she started Sweden’s first modern interior design firm Elsa Gullberg Textil og Inredningar AB, which focused on tradition-based styles.^{[10] [11]}

At the World’s Fair in New York, one of her famous designs, Lilies, was exhibited in 1939.^[11]

She died on 1 March 1984 in Vaxholm, in Stockholm County, Sweden.

Notes and References

1. Book: Hagströmer, Denise . 2001. Swedish Design. 21 October 2022. New York . Swedish Institute . 39. 978-9-152-00588-0.
2. Book: Lee, Mireille M. . 12 January 2015. Body, Dress, and Identity in Ancient Greece. 21 October 2022. Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 16. 978-1-107-05536-0.
3. Book: Clark, Robert Judson . 1983. Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision, 1925-1950. 21 October 2022. New York . Metropolitan Museum of Art . 193. 978-0-810-90801-7.
4. Book: Aav, Marianne . 2010. Modernism: Essays on Finnish Modernism. 21 October 2022. Helsinki . Designmuseo . 11. 978-9-529-87868-0.
5. Book: Fallan, Kjetil . 19 September 2016. Designing Modern Norway: A History of Design Discourse. 21 October 2022. Oxfordshire . Taylor & Francis . 42. 978-1-315-52864-9.
6. Book: Carlson, Allan C. . 1990. The Swedish Experiment in Family Politics. 21 October 2022. Piscataway, New Jersey . Transaction Publishers . 47. 978-1-412-83930-3.
7. Book: O'Neill, Lois Decker . 1979. The Women's Book of World Records and Achievements. 21 October 2022. New York City . Anchor Press/Doubleday . 272. 978-0-385-12732-5.
8. Book: Åhrén, Uno . 2008. Modern Swedish Design: Three Founding Texts. 21 October 2022. New York . The Museum of Modern Art . 63. 978-0-870-70722-3.
9. Book: Sparke, Penny . 17 June 2016. The Routledge Companion to Design Studies. 21 October 2022. Oxon . Routledge . 259. 978-1-317-20329-2.
10. Book: Jackson, Lesley . 8 February 2007. Twentieth-Century Pattern Design. 21 October 2022. New York . Princeton Architectural Press . 91. 978-1-568-98712-5.
11. Web site: ELSA GULLBERG-DESIGN PIONEER . fjhakimian.com/ . FJ HAKIMIAN . 21 October 2022.