Swedish Flat-Weave Wall Hanging by Barbro Nilsson, AB Märta Måås-fjetterström

Swedish flat-weave rug/runner Initialed: AB MMF BN (AB Märta Måås-Fjetterström Barbro Nilsson) Handwoven.

Swedish Pile Rug by Märta Måås-Fjetterström and Barbro Nilsson Initialed: AB MMF BN (Märta Måås-Fjetterström , Barbro Nilsson) Handwoven.

Barbro Nilsson for AB Märta Måås-Fjetterström, carpet, model ‘Salerno’, wool on linen warp, Sweden, design 1948 Exceptional hand-woven, blue-toned carpet designed by the celebrated Swedish textile designer Barbro Nilsson in 1948. The Salerno rug was specially commissioned to honor a tragic incident. In 1947, a cargo plane crashed near Scala, a small town located north of the historic city of Salerno in Italy's Monti Latteri region. The aircraft carried twenty-five Swedish Air Force pilots, and despite the valiant efforts of Italian locals, only four of them managed to survive. The Swedish Government commissioned the MMF workshop to create a commemorative rug, which would be presented as a gift to the chapel of the hospital in Scala, where the survivors received medical care. This particular piece was woven from blue wool, accented by brown sections. Within the vertical pattern details of the rug, one can discern hints of brown, blue, and yellow. These elements symbolize small airplanes, while the triangular sections evoke Italy's mountains. The blue hues in the rug represent the sea. These motifs, coupled with the serene composition and subtle colors of the carpet, transform this national tragedy into something profoundly touching and beautiful. As with all her designs, Nilsson wove her initials ‘B N’ and AB MMF (meaning AB Märta Måås-Fjetterström) at the edge of the carpet. Barbro Nilsson (1889- 1983), née Lundberg, was a Swedish textile designer from Malmö, Sweden. In 1904 her family moved to Stockholm where her father, Carl T. Lundberg, was the manager of the department store ‘Nordiska Kompaniet’(NK). At the age of fourteen, Nilsson started her education in weaving and textile design at the Brunssons Vävskola that was founded by Johanna Brunsson in 1843. Nilsson continued her education at the ‘Tekniska Skolan’ (technical academy) in Stockholm where she enriched her skills in weaving even further. In 1928 she married to the sculptor Robert Nilsson...

This vintage hand-woven Swedish rug has a tonal overall field of camel, beige, sage and gray interwoven serrated geometric motif, overlaid by polychrome scattered tribal lozenges row...