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Viola Gråsten
Viola Gråsten (1950), photograph by Erik Holmén
Born	Viola Hildegard Forsberg (1910-11-18)18 November 1910 Keuruu, Finland
Died	20 October 1994(1994-10-20) (aged 83)
Nationality	Swedish
Other names	Viola Gråsten-Öhquist
Known for	Textile design
Spouse	Nils Robert Waldemar Öhquist
Awards	Prince Eugen Medal (1973)

Viola Hildegard Gråsten (born Viola Hildegard Forsberg) (18 November 1910 – 20 October 1994) was a Swedish textile designer.

Gråsten was born in Keuruu in Häme, Finland and was brought up as a foster daughter by the Finnish Finance Minister, Ernst Gråsten. She studied for four years at the Central School of Crafts in Helsinki until 1936, after which she worked as a designer at the Friends of Finnish Handicraft. In 1944, because of wartime yarn shortages in Finland, she moved to Sweden and designed shaggy rugs for Textiles & Interiors in Stockholm. A year later she took a post at the NK Textile Studio, where she began to design patterns for textiles and made a reputation for her colourful geometric designs. In 1956 she became artistic director of fashion textiles at Mölnlycke Weavers, where she stayed until her retirement in 1973.

Gråsten was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal for design in 1973.

Gallery

• A blanket from Tidstrand's Wool Factories designed by Viola Gråsten.
• Viola Gråsten's pattern on a dress from around 1955.

References

1. "Viola Gråsten". bemz. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
2. Sundberg, Isabelle. "Viola Gråsten". von Platen Modern Form (in Swedish). Retrieved 12 February 2019.
3. von Platen, Jenny. "Viola Hildegard Gråsten". Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon. Translated by Grosjean, Alexia. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
4. "Viola Gråsten". Röhsska Museum. Retrieved 2024-12-28.
5. "Viola Gråsten Finland/Sweden 1910-1994". sotbcn. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
6. "Oktober 2007: Viola Gråsten (1910-1994)". Design Arkivet | Nationellt arkiv för svensk form och design (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
7. "Prins Eugen Medaljen" (PDF). Retrieved 14 February 2015.

Further reading

• Viola Gråsten at Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon

External links

• Works in the Design Arkivet database (in Swedish)

v t e Textile designers
18th century	Anna Maria Garthwaite William Kilburn
19th century	John Henry Dearle William Morris C. F. A. Voysey
Early 20th century	Bernard Adeney Ethel Mairet Silver Studio
Mid 20th century	Laura Ashley Helen Berman Lucienne Day Ada Dietz Elenhank Alexander Girard Joan Glass Viola Gråsten Maija Isola Bernat Klein Jack Lenor Larsen Dorothy Liebes Marimekko Mario Prassinos Ernest Race Ruth Reeves Astrid Sampe Franco Scalamandré May Smith Marianne Straub Thelma Johnson Streat Mary White Suzie Zuzek
Late 20th century	Angela Adams Hiroshi Awatsuji Bronwyn Bancroft Celia Birtwell Valerie Campbell-Harding Georgina von Etzdorf Lily Goddard Hans Krondahl Meera Mehta Vuokko Nurmesniemi Graziela Preiser Siona Shimshi Sue Timney Up Tied
Early 21st century	Kvadrat

• 1910 births
• 1994 deaths
• 20th-century Swedish women artists
• 20th-century Finnish women artists
• 20th-century women textile artists
• 20th-century Swedish textile artists
• Swedish weavers
• Textile designers
• Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal
• Finnish emigrants to Sweden