Scandinavian Bauhaus Flatweave
Scandinavian Bauhaus Flatweave by Laila Maria Karttunen (1895-1981), who was a leading Finnish textile artist. After graduating from the Turku School of Art and Design, she initially taught at the Wetterhoff weaving school, and, in the 1920s, became the artistic director and designer of its weaving mill. In the early 1930s she moved to Helsinki and founded her own design firm. The foundations of her creative work rely heavily on her thorough technical knowledge of the art of weaving. Her stylistic influences are clearly rooted in the Art Deco and Bauhaus school, yet pay close attention to the Scandinavian folk tradition.
The present flat-woven carpet is a case in point, as it shows an abstract geometric pattern on a light camel background—the style of which is strongly reminiscent of the contemporaneous work of the German Bauhaus artist Gunta Stotzl. The relatively thick texture of the flat-woven, wool fabric is a firm nod to Bauhaus weavings and provides an ideal resilience for its use as a floor covering.