Spring / Summer 2014 The year 2013 marked the beginning of a collaborative venture involving Elsa Beskow’s estate, publishing house Bonniers and Design House Stockholm. The endearing stories by the children’s book author and illustrator Elsa Beskow have been interpreted by Catharina Kippel, a designer who has worked with Design House Stockholm right from the beginning. The venture has been a success both in Sweden and internationally. Elsa Beskow’s storybooks are an important part of many children’s early lives both in Sweden and elsewhere. Accordingly, when Bonniers contacted Design House Stockholm to enquire as to whether we were interested in managing and developing one of Sweden’s most important cultural treasures, we could hardly refuse. Our choice of designer fell on Catharina Kippel whose modern style of design and treatment of visual motifs in constructing patterns make her perfect for the assignment. Using visual quotations from Elsa Beskow’s works Catharina stresses the humour with which Elsa so typically portrays people and nature. This folder illustrates the spring /summer collection, that will be followed by an autumn /winter collection. Welcome to the world of Elsa Beskow!
The Publishing House for Scandinavian Design.
The sun is our godmother, yes she is, there’s no-one finer it’s true Over mountain and brook we lightly step in green-heeled shoe Yellow hats a-swinging and green belts a-sway, the whole world is dancing the live-long day Text by Jeanna Oterdahl from The Book of Flowers
Elsa meets Catharina
Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomin family and Finland’s most widely known author, recorded her views about Elsa Beskow: “One day I was passing a bookshop when I suddenly stopped as my eye caught something I recognized. A glimpse of something important that had been lost but that was present here, shyly incorporated into a cacophony of colourful children’s books. What caught my eye was Elsa Beskow’s ‘Flower’s Festival’ which I had adored when I was little. It was one of those much-loved books that are read so intensely that they fall apart and are abandoned when one becomes a teenager and terribly grown-up and literary! The sight of the book made me very excited and I immediately thought of Mrs Chestnut Flower who was so pretty and whose sons rode out into the world. As I entered the shop to purchase the book the memory of Mrs Chestnut Flower became increasingly clear. I remember how white she was against the dark green of the leaves with a thunderstorm rumbling behind a diffuse horizon which suggested the path out into the world where there were fierce breezes and galloping horses. When I had bought the book I opened it at the right page. She was just as white and beautiful as before, but there were none of the dark elements that I remembered. The leaves were light
green, the sky was pale blue and there was no hint of bad weather. I was not disappointed. But I started to wonder. I looked through all of Elsa Beskow’s books, trying to find the key to the enchantment that was still present. All her illustrations were sublimely simple and honest. There was no trace of make-believe for its own sake, no other effects than the magic of making large things small and small things gigantic. Elsa Beskow does not make use of the storyteller’s privilege of painting the lawn blue and filling the forest with animals that do not exist. Rather, she concerns herself with reality and lets her story take place there. Suddenly I realized how wonderful it was to be able to recognize my own forest, my own ditch, my own meadow, my own blueberry plants, and I was filled with admiration for an artist who dared to paint a yellowy-green bush with pink roses and to insist that the sky really is pale blue. True, there were other artists who painted rosebushes when one was little, but one passed them by. Elsa Beskow allows the child a wide margin for its own reflections and fantasies. Her books are pure and straightforward and so children will continue to love them throughout the ages and to relax in them when childhood has ended.
4 –– Elsa meets Catharina
Elsa Beskow is often very serious with a sort of mild gravity which would not dream of trying to alter the beauty of the earth that she describes. I am grateful that she was as careful as this. She recreated, in spite of everything. She recreated us so that we ultimately did not just see but learnt to contemplate and to understand.” (Excerpted from ‘Sagan inom verkligheten ––– den ärliga Elsa Beskow’, BLM 1959.) Elsa Beskow was born in southern Stockholm in 1874. There were five children in the family. Her father died when she was 15 and her mother took the children to live with her unmarried siblings who shared the same household. Elsa’s aunts and uncle became the models for Aunt Green, Aunt Brown, Aunt Lavender and Uncle Blue. From 1892 to 1895 Elsa studied to become an art teacher and it was at this time that she started illustrating children’s stories. She married Natanael Beskow, a theologian and artist. They lived with their six sons in Djursholm, north of Stockholm, and the family often provided inspiration for characters and locations in her stories. Elsa Beskow’s first book ‘Tale of the Little, Little Old Lady’ is based on stories that her grandmother told her and was published in 1897. To this day it remains a classic story that most children have read. Her stories and her illustrations were a dominant influence in the world of children’s books for more than 50 years. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages and many of today’s children’s authors and illustrators have been inspired by her art. In 1952 she was awarded the Nils Holgersson Prize for her
lifework and today there is a prize for children’s authors in her name. The stories of Elsa Beskow have been interpreted by designer Catharina Kippel, who has used ‘visual quotations’, or details, from the original stories and brought into her work. Catharina has been collaborating with Design House Stockholm since the beginning, and is the designer behind much of our bestselling dinnerware. She has studied pottery and glassblowing in Sweden as well as ancient ceramic firing techniques in Japan, and has a master’s degree from Konstfack, the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Since 1995, Catharina runs her own studio in Gustavsberg’s old porcelain factory, and her work is represented at Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Porcelain Museum in Gustavsberg. “Like many others I have grown up with Aunt Lavender, the Little, Little Old Lady, the Morel Troll and all the other fantastic characters of Elsa Beskow’s fairy tales. It was a wonderful feeling to daydream about these worlds, and I still feel the same excitement when I think about them. One of my favourite books when I was a child was ‘Woody, Hazel & Little Pip’ by Elsa Beskow. My dog, a playful boxer puppy, ate a part of the book, but I kept reading it over and over again. It’s still kept in my parent’s home in Lund in southern Sweden.”
5 –– Elsa meets Catharina
Mug
2164–– 0100 Dandelions
6 –– Mug
2146–– 0100 Aunts Green, Brown and Lavender
Capacity: 28 cl (9.5 fl. oz.) Material: New bone china. Inglazed decal. Care instructions: Dishwasher & microwave proof. Packaging: Single packed in box with colour print. Article no. 2146–– 0100: Set of 3 packed in box with colour print. Minimum Quantity: 4 pcs /sets.
2163 –– 0100 The King’s men
7 –– Mug
2091 ––0100 Uncle Blue
2092 –– 0100 Pyrola
2093 –– 0100 Madame Fuchsia
2094 –– 0100 The Strawberry family
2095 –– 0100 Mr. Thistle
2096 –– 0100 Fish walk
8 –– Mug
Mug with handle
2165 –– 0100 The King’s men
9 –– Mug with handle
2167 –– 0100 Aunt Green
2168 –– 0100 Aunt Brown
Capacity: 40 cl (13.5 fl. oz.) Material: New bone china. Inglazed decal. Care instructions: Dishwasher & microwave proof. Packaging: Single packed in box with colour print. Minimum Quantity: 4 pcs.
2169 –– 0100 Aunt Lavender
2166 –– 0100 Dandelions
10 –– Mug with handle
2102 –– 0100 Uncle Blue
2104 –– 0100 Pyrola
2105 –– 0100 The Strawberry family
11 –– Mug with handle
Tray
2176 –– 0100 Dandelions
2098 –– 0100 Radish
2097 –– 0100 Mrs Cabbage
12 –– Tray
2185 –– 0100 Pyrola
2184 –– 0100 Uncle Blue
Round tray. Measurements: Ø 38 cm (Ø 15"). Material: Veneer. Care instructions: Dishwasher proof. Minimum Quantity: 4 pcs. Rectangular tray. Measurements: 20 × 27 cm (8"× 10.5"). Material: Veneer. Care instructions: Dishwasher proof. Minimum Quantity: 4 pcs. 2186 –– 0100 The King’s men
2100 –– 0100 Radish
2099 –– 0100 Mrs Cabbage
13 –– Tray
Napkin
2197 –– 0100 Dandelions
14 –– Napkin
2198 –– 0100 King’s men
2200 –– 0100 Mrs Cabbage
Paper napkin, set of 20. Measurements: 33 × 33 cm (13"× 13"). Folded: 16.5 × 16.5 cm (7.5"× 7.5"). Material: Paper. Packaging: Set of 20 napkins packed in a transparent plastic bag. Minimum Quantity: 12 sets.
2196 –– 0100 Pyrola
2199 –– 0100 Radish
2195 –– 0100 Uncle Blue
15 –– Napkin
Card
2194 –– 0100 Dandelions
2193 –– 0100 The King’s men
Folded card. Measurements: 10 × 15 cm (4"× 6") / 15 × 10 cm (6"× 4"). Material: Paper. Packaging: 1 card + 1 white envelope packed in a transparent plastic bag. Minimum Quantity: 12 sets. Also available: a card rack with six trays, each tray holds twelve cards.
2192 –– 0100 The Strawberry family
2190 –– 0100 Pyrola
2191 –– 0100 Willow
16 –– Card
2189 –– 0100 Uncle Blue
17 –– Card
Kitchen towel
18 –– Kitchen towel
Hand-printed kitchen towel. Measurements: 45 × 65 cm (18"× 26"). Material: 100% cotton. Care instructions: Machine wash warm 60° C. Packaging: Single packed in plastic bag, cardboard insert with colour print. Minimum Quantity: 4 pcs.
2128 –– 0100 Mrs Cabbage
2129 –– 0100 The Strawberry family
2173 –– 0100 Dandelions
2130 –– 0100 Radish
19 –– Kitchen towel
Cushion
2172 –– 0100 The King’s men
20 –– Cushion
2170 –– 0100 Pyrola
Hand-printed cushion cover. Measurements: 50 × 50 cm (20"× 20"). Material: 100% cotton. Care instructions: Machine wash cool 40° C. Packaging: Single packed in plastic bag, cardboard insert with colour print. Minimum Quantity: 4 pcs. Also available: inner cushion 50 × 50 cm (20"× 20"). Art no. 2174––0000.
2171 –– 0100 Uncle Blue
21 –– Cushion
Bed set
2143 –– 0116 Blåbär
2143 –– 0117 Lingon
Measurements: Pillow case 55 × 38 cm (22"× 15"). Duvet cover 100 × 130 cm (40"× 51"). Material: 100% cotton. Care instructions: Machine wash warm 60° C. Packaging: One set packed in plastic bag, cardboard insert with colour print. Minimum Quantity: 2 sets.
22 –– Bed set
Packaging & Display
The packaging shows both the product, the original illustration and the story connected to it. When used in display, the different sides of the packaging should be shown to tell the whole story. Mugs: White matte cardboard box with colour print. One side shows the original illustration, one side shows the product, and two sides has the text connected to the illustration in both English and Swedish. Cards & Napkins: Transparent plastic bag. Textiles: Transparent plastic bag with cardboard insert. The insert shows the original illustration with text in Swedish on one side and English on the other side. Trays: Delivered without packaging.
Mug packaging
Textile packaging
23 –– Packaging & display
Display poster
2107 –– 0000 Uncle Blue (front)
Uncle Blue (back)
2108 –– 0000 Pyrola (front)
Pyrola (back)
2109 –– 0000 The Strawberry family (front)
The Strawberry family (back)
24 –– Display poster
2162 –– 0000 Aunts Green, Brown and Lavender (front)
Aunts Green, Brown and Lavender (back)
Measurements: 50 × 70 cm (20"× 28") / 70 × 50 cm (28"× 20"). Material: colour prints mounted double sided on cardboard core. Minimum Quantity: 1 set.
2205 –– 0000 Dandelions (front)
Dandelions (back)
25 –– Display poster
Clumsy little Måns sat in a tree, clumsy Måns fell down and hurt his knee. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t pull Clumsy Måns up again. Text by Alice Tegnér from Mayor Munte