Swedish Flat Weave
Initialed: AO and Agda Österberg
Initialed: AO and Agda Österberg
Initialed "WE"
Initialed "MA"
An ivory ground bears a stepped, geometric medallion in pale butter yellow with two curved, bracket-like forms stacked at the center, all outlined in dark brown-black. Diagonal yellow and pale aqua bands radiate toward the corners, and a plain border in matching aqua frames the field, the whole composition built from angular, pixelated contours rather than curved lines.
Undyed Wool
The field is organized into a grid of rectangular blocks in varied solid tones—mustard, olive, taupe, grey-blue, pale cream, and rust—each panel centered with a small stylized figure resembling an anvil, I-form, or bowtie in a contrasting color. Narrow dividing bands run between the blocks, patterned with dashed ticking in cream, orange, and dark navy. There is no separate border; the checkerboard arrangement extends to the edges, finishing in a plain flat selvage with loose warp fringe at both ends.
Maj Svanström was a Swedish weaver and rug designer working in the middle of the twentieth century. She designed carpets for Gävleborgs Läns Hemslöjd in the 1950s, and was among the weavers who built that society up after its founding in 1949.
She also wove rölakan flatweaves for Klockargårdens Hemslöjd at Tällberg in Dalarna; those carry the initials MS beside the society's KH. Her designs are geometric, set in several colours against a coloured ground.
The field is left entirely open, a plain expanse of pale straw-toned ground with subtle striations running lengthwise. It is framed by a narrow burgundy line before a wide stepped border of interlocking zigzags in mustard yellow, teal, cream, and brown, arranged in a repeating diagonal chevron pattern along all four sides. The corners resolve the zigzag motif cleanly, keeping the border continuous and symmetrical around the open center.
Initialed "SB"
A mustard-yellow ground carries a repeating grid of octagonal medallions formed from interlocking triangles in slate blue, dark brown, and cream, each centered with a small cream cross on a diamond of gold or blue. The wide dark brown border frames the field with a zigzag guard band on the sides and, at top and bottom, alternating rosette medallions and stylized tulip-and-leaf sprays in pink, pale blue, and olive green. The corners resolve cleanly where the side zigzags meet the floral end panels, and the fringe is left visible at both edges.