Viola Gråsten was a textile artist who contributed to the creation of Swedish textile art through her creative style and bold colour variations, and eventually introduced Swedish textile art to international fame. Viola Gråsten was born in Keuruu, Finland, in 1910. Her mother, Hilda Kainlauri, died of childbirth. Her father, Sigismund Forsberg, who was a telegrapher, was remarried to Anna Gråsten.
Viola Gråsten was not only a master of rya rug style. She is well known for her creations in textiles. Her first concept for NK’s Textilkammare was the 1950 geometrical Woodoo and the more dynamic Tulipou (Brinnande träd) of the same year. Raff’s vivid colourful content was introduced in 1951 and the same year, Viola Gråsten won gold medals for both Tulipu and Raff at the Triennale in Milan. Raff was awarded the Strong Architecture Prize in the USA in 1953.
In 1952, Iola Gråsten launched Oomph, which became her most popular cloth. It blends the colours of blue, yellow, green and cherry – colours previously thought difficult to blend. Young women will fly to NK to buy a piece of cloth to sew a skirt or a shirt. The fabric became an emblem of youth’s liberation from old-fashioned clothes and traditions.
During the period 1956-1957, Viola Gråsten left NK’s Textilkammare to take up the post of Creative Director of Fashion Textiles at Mölnlycke Väfveri AB. The designs she created there were not as graphic as her previous work, and her themes have now come to include flowers, berries, butterflies and birds of a greater variety than before, and still in bright colours. She maintained her love for vivid colours and bold paint variations. Viola Gråsten worked for Mölnlycke Väfveri AB until 1973.
She created more than 100 designs for home-and fashion-use during her time there. She also produced blankets for Tidstrand woollen factory, including Snark from 1957, which became very popular and can be seen in many Swedish homes. It also provided a curtain for the new auditorium of the Röhsska Konstslöjdmuseum, which opened in January 1964.
In 1994, Viola Gråsten died in Stockholm.
