Month: March 2020

In 1968 Greta and William Lehtinen established a foundation bearing their names to support visual arts, design, architecture and music. The foundation is opening a residence in Katajanokka, Helsinki which is open to professional artists of all nationalities working in the above fields of art.

Greta was a designer of monumental textile works. Her career expanded 53 years during which time her own textile office and weaving studio designed many church textiles, large tapestries for public buildings, carpets, curtains, upholstery fabrics, linens and clothing textiles.

William, better known as Ville, got his Master’s Degree in Forestry from Yale University in the USA and went on to become the CEO of Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1945 after the war. He had the vision to develop pulp and paper mills, the energy systems and shipping lines the industry needed to expand and grow. William and Greta were art collectors and patrons.

Written by Päikki Priha and Leena Svinhufvud, this book brings together the extensive and historically important textile work of Greta Skogster-Lehtinen. Her role in the development of Finnish textiles is unsurpassed, and her unique and multi-faceted work finally have a prominent place to be appreciated.

The book is written in Finnish with a short English summary and it’s on sale in Helsinki at the Designmuseum designshop. In January the book can be purchased online at the Designmuseum webstore.