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. She has designed 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.
TUVA created by Maja Johansson Starander