Kerstin Olsson & Bohusstickning

Kerstin Olsson is known as a designer for the Bohus Stickning association during the 1960s and is represented in the Röhsska Museum's collections with a large number of knitted garments. After Bohus Stickning closed down in 1969, Kerstin Olsson worked as a freelance textile artist. Kerstin Olsson trained at the Slöjdföreningen school in Gothenburg and, through a teacher who acted as an intermediary, she began working at Bohus Stickning in 1958. She was asked to produce a number of sample pattern strips, and her original colour compositions and rich motifs were appreciated, resulting in her being hired immediately. In a brochure from 1964, Bohus Stickning's founder Emma Jacobsson writes about Kerstin Olsson that she is the ‘least inhibited’ of the pattern designers. She continued: ‘She works quickly’ and ‘almost violently in strong colours and contrasts, but also creates compositions of a calmer nature in collaboration with others’. Kerstin Olsson travelled with Emma Jacobsson to Paris in the autumn of 1961, where they saw a fashion show by Nina Ricci, among other things. The travel experience resulted in patterns with colour shifts, tone on tone. A number of patterns of this type were composed, e.g. ‘Grey Fog’, the blue one, the brown one, etc. In some patterns, there could be as many as thirteen colour shades. She handled colour skilfully and also had extensive knowledge of knitting techniques. Kerstin Olsson went on to work for Bohus Stickning for eleven years.