Designers Alba and Vera by Maja Johansson Starander
We are glad to present the first Maja Johansson Starander designed rugs exclusively for Vandra Rugs. Growing up influenced by her grandparents home filled with art, Scandinavian Röllakan wallhangings, British wallpapers and craft and textiles from her grandmothers childhood in Ethiopia layed the foundation for a style both Scandinavian and global. After studies and work in Berlin, Copenhagen and London with a Master in woven textiles from Royal College of Art, Maja moved to Sweden to work with Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg at Kasthall. Maja has since 2013 designed rugs and collections for Kasthall and world wide market in both tufted and woven qualities. She has worked in projects with designers and architect to create tailor-made solutions for the textile floors for spaces like restaurants, hotels, offices, fashion houses and their retail spaces.The source of inspiration is often textile tradition , archives and art while painting, creating and sampling on the loom is often the primary starting point for a new design.
Since 2020 Maja is working from her own studio to explore weaving and making further.
VELVET CHECK
A calm base with a check pattern that offers focus and harmony to the room.
Within the rug different weaving techniques are used with windows of flat woven twill structure, framed by rya knotted lines, and tighter single weave for contrast and depth.
I have a special love for woven rugs with a frame design, and with Vandra Rugs weaving atelier’s handweaving this is possible to create.
Here, stripes of rya knots in wool with flat woven twill in between, creates a luxurious and elegant frame. Between these lines, hidden like gems, broken up rows of metallic yarn adds a charming detail, combining traditional elegance with a touch of fantasy.
Velvet check comes in colours: Neutral, Copper, Golden, and Salt and Pepper.
SEA MEADOW
The sea, corals and shells are a never-ending source of inspiration. The meadows and flowers of the ocean have been found in art, architecture and interior design for centuries and never cease to fascinate us.
The freshness of the cotton stipes, traditionally used in Scandinavian rag rugs, in combination with the linen yarn draws my mind to the ocean mist in the salty Gothenburg archipelago where I love to spend my time to relax and recharge.
In this design, combining gray with blush, cream and linen yarn in a free organic pattern, reminiscent of ripples and sea foam washed ashore, brings a bit of that untamed peacefulness indoors.
Colours: light version : Blush
Darker version: Dark sand
TUVA created by Maja Johansson Starander
Designer rug Tuva by Maja Johansson Starander is both grounded and light. A calm of soft movements in a down-to-earth design. The linen warp and cotton weft in the carpet create a base of weaving tradition while the wavy pattern and airiness in the rya knots are reminiscent of nature’s movements of grass swaying in wind and ripples in water. These knots are laid by hand during the weaving process and offer a lively contrast to the weaving pattern. The fringes of linen warp are long for an elegant finish.
At home we like to incorporate the feeling from our holiday with our everyday life and we strive for surrounding us with both inspiration and serenity. We look at the environment where the rag rug often adorns the floor, as in the whitewashed stone house, in the artist’s studio, by the comfortable reading chair in the academic’s study. We walk through cobbled streets, through Slottsträdgården towards the salty sea, visit the Skissernas museum in Lund and look across the strait towards Glyptoteket in Copenhagen.The artist’s studio and the academic’s reading corner, where sculptures and paintings that mingle with clogs and clay jars, new and old, practical and decadent. The traditional Scandinavian gets a little more flair.
Tuva by Maja Johansson Starander is handwoven in cotton rags on linen yarn with rya in cotton and linen. It is offered in Botanic Beige combining brown and natural linen with cream, white and khaki in cotton strips and longer linen fringes. Available in size 200×300 cm and in bespoke sizes.
ALBA and VERA
Maja Johansson designed her first two rugs for Vandra with a starting point in the color of their yarns and ability to freely hand weave. The creative process was sketching in watercolour with blocks of lines and objects inspired by light through a window creating shadows in a room, tactile memories and a mix of stillness and movement. The result was Alba av Vera, two modern woven rugs in rödlakan technique. Alba is a woven rug in Bordeaux, rust, beige and grayish lilac while Vera has shades of green, turquoise, grey, brown and vanilla.
