An archive in progress
The Nordic women who shaped design, and were left out of the story.
Ceramists at Arabia, the women behind Artek, glass artists at Orrefors. One profile at a time, from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
Designer index
Filed by country of birth
Country
Discipline
By workshop
The same factories keep coming up. These are the women who worked in them.
Arabia
Helsinki, ceramics
Raija Uosikkinen, Esteri Tomula, Hilkka Mekri, Greta-Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman, Gerda Thesleff
Stockmann
Helsinki, furniture and Orno lighting
Lisa Johansson-Pape, Svea Winkler, Margaret T. Nordman
Gustavsberg and Saxbo
Sweden and Denmark, ceramics
Lisa Larson, Nathalie Krebs, Eva Stæhr-Nielsen, Signe Persson-Melin
Essays
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Women Industrial Designers in the US
A shortened version of Pat Kirkham’s “In a Man’s World”, on the women industrial designers of 20th-century America.
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“Who is your favourite designer?”
101 Designers tells the stories of Nordic women who shaped design but are rarely mentioned when history is told.
Toward a book
This site is the working draft of a book about 101 Nordic women designers.
Have a photo, a letter or a family story? It might fill a gap.