New research explores how weaving can thrive in urban Nordic environments
How can an old craft stay relevant and present in modern young people’s urban life? In her doctoral thesis in Artistic Practice, Rosa Tolnov Clausen, doctoral student at HDK-Valand at the University of Gothenburg, explores how weaving can find a place in Nordic cities and become accessible to new generations.
For many years, Rosa Tolnov Clausen’s artistic practice has revolved around making weaving visible and accessible in urban areas. Her initial ambition was for her dissertation to explore how weaving affects individual well-being – an idea she later set aside to focus on how leisure-time weaving spaces are organized.
– Since hand weaving requires a particularly spatially, economically and technically demanding tool compared to, for example, knitting or crocheting, I felt it was relevant to focus on how the craft can be practiced in the first place in order generate its positive effects, she explains.
An evolution led by women
In the dissertation, she explores how such spaces can be organized in Nordic cities with the aim of making weaving accessible and attractive to a new and younger generation. This includes the case study Weaving Kiosk – an ongoing series of temporary weaving workshops in various locations where easy-to-use frame looms, along with all necessary tools and materials, are made available to the public free of charge.
She has also investigated the primary organisational models of free time hand-weaving in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, as well as the presence of small and mobile looms, over the past 100 years.
– This is a previously overlooked historical perspective and example that shows how hand weaving – rather than being a 'nostalgic' practice from a distant past – continued to evolve to the present day in interaction with social, economic, and political developments. My research also shows how this evolution has often been led by women, who have developed new tools, pedagogical approaches, and business models related to recreational hand weaving, says Rosa Tolnov Clausen.
What new perspectives do you hope your research can offer?
– I hope to support the understanding that what we do in our leisure time matters – not only because of the positive impact it has on the practitioner, but also through the practitioner’s influence on the surrounding society. I also aim to offer practical insights for craft organizations and other practitioners on how hobby weaving can claim space in Nordic urban environments, for example by utilizing spaces that have not been considered accessible or suitable for weaving, such as an architect's office closed for holidays, an empty storefront or a gallery.
Can a loom really be squeezed into a storefront?
– My Weaving Kiosk is both technically accessible and designed for high mobility, which means that it can fit almost anywhere for a period. I hope it can attract new practitioners and keep the practical knowledge alive so that more people can experience the psychological and social benefits of the craft.
