Swedish Hemslöjd Stool in Braided Seagrass and Cane, Early 20th Century

About Swedish Hemslöjd:

In 1899 Föreningen för Svensk Hemslöjd was formed – the first national association for handicrafts. Between 1904 and 1912, around 20 handicraft societies were founded in Sweden. In 1912, The National Association of Swedish Handicraft Societies was formed as an umbrella organisation for Sweden’s handicraft societies.
The movement was first established as a reaction on the spirit of the time. Lilli Zickerman was the first to create an organized form for handicrafts. Her idea was that handicrafts had room for professionals and amateurs alike, and that both culture and industry played an important role in the survival and development of handicrafts. She believed that the people who lived in the age of self-sufficiency had invaluable knowledge about how the objects people needed were actually made, and what tools and materials that worked to create the best utility goods. She also thought that if this knowledge was to survive the advance of industrialism, the objects needed to be adapted to the times.