The City Council Chamber, with the tapestry by Else Poulsson, the architect’s neice. St. Hallvard sits in the center, with the seven virtues above him and scenes of city life below him.
The Munch Room, showing Poulsson’s work in the rugs, curtains, and upholstery. Photo courtesy of the author.
Photo courtesy of the author.
the Munch room, Chairmen Hall, and City Hall. Her major work, however, was in City Council Hall: A tapestry showing the daily work in the city, in addition to the city’s patron St.Hallvard and the seven virtues. Poulsson wanted to remind councillors that tradition and ethics are important in politics. The tapestry has been given the honorary position behind the hall’s podium. Else Halling and Sunniva Lønning were two other key women in Husfliden who were engaged by Poulsson. Halling and Lønning have also woven and dyed yarn for other tapestries in the hall. The Oslo tapestry is the result of experimenting in the dyeing process. Their aim was to reestablish traditional methods in using natural dyestuff. The material was specially spun from wool of the old Norwegian Spælsau sheep by spinner Hoelfeldt Lund, Kunstvevgarn AS. This high quality yarn is still in production. Kari Rude (1907-1990) was a well-known damask weaver when she got the commission of creating the textiles for the Banquet Hall. This room is one of the most prominent in the City Hall and expresses festive power by its dimensions, ornamentations, and colors. The red and golden wall-cover and curtains were drawn by Kari Rude and woven on a jacquard loom at the Oslo based company A/S Joh. Petersens Linvarefabrik Most of her designs for upholstery fabric were woven in damask by Johannes Færø. Johannes Færø (1902-1982) was a master handweaver of damask who lived and worked in Steinsland, Sotra, outside Bergen. He was responsible for the production of most of the upholstery fabrics used in the hall, working in cooperation with Kari Rude and Fredrikke Nicolaysen, who were the designers. He used artificial silk as warp and weft. That yarn was produced at Kunstsilkefabrikken AS, Notodden from 1935 and was regarded as an industrial high-tech achievement at the time. Vol. 11, No. 2 2013
Detail of Kari Rude’s wall covering in the Banquet Hall. Photo courtesy of the author.
Johannes Færø at his loom, 1936.
Photo courtesy of the Færø family and the author.
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