Swedish Swatches - Yellow & Blue Series

Malin Selander

Orebro, Sweden: Malin Selander, 1962 & 1969. Approximately 10 x 11". Photographic color cardboard, spiral bindings in very good condition (only 1 is slightly broken on the blue one), some foxing and rubbing throughout, corner bumping, all samples clean and still attached intact, previous owner's name on inside front covers, no slipcases, overall in very good condition.

First two volumes in a series of Swedish Swatches: Yellow Series (1962), Blue Series (1969), Red Series (1974), and Green Series (1978). The Yellow Series contains 21 swatches and the Blue Series contains 20 swatches, each one woven especially for these volumes. Each swatch shows a purpose, pattern, warp, weft, reed, and draft - all supplemented with precise and easy-to-follow instructions. Malin Selander (1922 - 2013) trained at the Nordenfeldt weaving seminary in Gothenburg and became a mobile weaving teacher in 1945 at the Orebro County Handicraft Association. She held weaving summer courses in Vastmanland from 1945 - 1950. Her book, "Weaving Patterns", published in 1954, became known for its innovative colors and materials. She worked at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada as a weaving teacher during which she published her series of "Swedish Swatches" books. In 1970 she worked on behalf of the UN by training weavers in Iran. The year before she died, she donated her entire collection of clothes to Orebro County Museum, which also has a large collection of her sample fabrics, sketches, and work materials. (Marion Marzolf, "The Swedish Presence in 20th-Century American Weaving", 2006, and Swedish Wikipedia)

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