OntwerperSwedish
Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg
2 actieve items
Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg grew up in Stockholm in the 1950s and 60s with an early, insistent interest in making things with her hands - knitting, sewing, crocheting. At Rudbecksskolan she was the only pupil to combine economic studies with an aesthetic focus. After leaving school she began evening courses at Konstfack, the College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, then continued at Grundis (the School of Artistic Education) and Nyckelviksskolan, completing her training on Konstfack's textile line.
In 1987, on the recommendation of the Konstfack principal, she was appointed head designer at Kasthall, the rug manufacturer in Kinna, Sjuhäradsbygden. The appointment was the beginning of a collaboration that would last 28 years and define the company's identity. The collections she built - Häggå, Moss, Fogg, Tekla, Rita, String - became reference points for Scandinavian interior design across the following three decades. She worked with wool and combinations of wool and flax, designing rya rugs, hand-tufted pieces, and bouclé constructions. Much of her time went into working with the weaving machines, pushing them to produce surfaces and textures that had not been produced before.
Her design instinct was rooted in nature - in the forms of plants, the texture of lichen, the tones of a forest floor. The Herbarium collection, with its pressed-leaf patterns and kaleidoscopic botanical forms, made that relationship explicit. But even in the more geometric or tonal collections, that same attentiveness to natural material and its behavior runs through the work.
The reach of her designs is broad. Kasthall rugs designed by Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg are installed at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, at Swedish government buildings, at embassies around the world, and in a large number of private homes.
She received the Excellent Swedish Design diploma in 1991 and again in 1997, and was awarded special merit at the 1998 Utmärkt Svensk Form exhibition at the National Museum for her String collection. In 2012, Elle Decoration named her Designer of the Year. She died in December 2015 after a period of illness.
On the auction market, Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg's rugs appear regularly at Sweden's leading houses. Auctionist records 52 lots across 52 items, with Bukowskis Stockholm handling the largest share followed by Stockholms Auktionsverk Magasin 5 and Göteborgs Auktionsverk. The Häggå series dominates what comes to market - the top result on record is 12,013 SEK for a large Häggå, approximately 480 x 300 cm - and the Rita model has also appeared at auction. Carpets and textiles account for the great majority of lots, with some ceramics also attributed to her.