Pierre Olofsson (1921-1996) was a Swedish painter, printmaker and sculptor, and the most consistent of the concrete artists of his generation. Born in Paris and raised in Stockholm, he trained at Otte Sköld's painting school and at the Royal Institute of Art.
Photograph from Svenskt konstnärslexikon (Allhem). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Pinton has woven at Felletin, beside Aubusson in the old county of the Marche, since 1867, and is now the last workshop carrying on the tapestry tradition of that region. The firm began with two brothers who went to Paris as rug traders and representatives for Maison Bournaret, a weaving manufactory at Felletin, and in time took over the weaving themselves.
Handarbetets Vänner, the Friends of Handicraft, was founded in Stockholm in 1874 by Sophie Adlersparre with Hanna Winge and Molly Rohtlieb, and was the first company in Sweden founded by women. Winge became its first artistic director.
Hemslöjdsföreningen Konstfliten was founded in Gothenburg on 15 February 1906 by Reinhold Callmander, Sigfrid Ericson, Ragnar Hamberg, Hans Hedlund, Ernst Torulf and Waldemar Zachrisson, as the handicraft association for Gothenburg and Bohus county.
Thyra Grafström (1864-1925) opened her textile atelier in Stockholm on Birger Jarlsgatan in 1897. Born Inga Thyra Carola Boklund, daughter of the painter and museum curator Johan Christoffer Boklund, she trained at the technical college that became Konstfack, studied painting under Kerstin Cardon, and worked from 1882 for Handarbetets Vänner.
Anna Maria Hoke, born Ann-Mari Ericsson, was a Swedish weaver and designer who took the name Hoke on marrying in about 1942. She had an established reputation before joining the Gävleborg county society: she worked for Värmlands Hemslöjd from 1938 to 1940 and for Västmanlands Hemslöjd from 1952 to 1954, designing carpets for the latter.
NK:s Textilkammare was the textile department of Nordiska Kompaniet, the Stockholm department store, founded in 1936. From 1937 until 1971 it was led by Astrid Sampe, and under her it became the most internationally minded centre for modern textile design in Sweden.
Jönköpings Läns Hemslöjd is the county handicraft society of Jönköping, in south-central Sweden, and one of the regional societies of the Swedish hemslöjd movement.
