Viola Gråsten

Viola Gråsten (1910-1994)

Textile designer Viola Gråsten was born in Finland and for some years she held a position at the ”Friends of Textile Art Association” (Handarbetets Vänner) in Helsinki, before she came to Sweden in 1945 to be employed at the NK Textile Studio. Her original long-pile rugs (ryor) with extra long pile and unconventional colour combinations were quite striking and became very popular.

Towards the end of the 1940’ies she started to make patterns for textiles, which resulted in many national and international successes. Her glowing range of colours became known as ”Gråsten-colours”.

Alongside with her patterns exploding with colour, she also worked according to a strict and simple idiom, often favouring black and white. Viola Gråsten contributed with two patterns to ”Signed Textile”: ”Sirocco” and ”Festivo”. ”Festivo” is really meant to be seen and the brilliant colours can be associated to circus and carnival, like fireworks of coloured confetti arranged in strict rows.

”Festivo” is printed in two qualities: one, on thick furnishing velvet with black background, the other, on a simple cotton fabric with red background.