The Norsk Folkemuseum [The Norwegian Folk Museum] in Oslo, Norway, celebrates the holiday season sensationally. There is a whole section of their website, “Juletradisjoner gjennom 1000 år” [Christmas Traditions Throughout 1000 Years]. They even specify a Julkonservator [Christmas Conservator], Geir Thomas Risåsen. He must be busy, and he has an unusual designation for his resume!
In my favorite part of the museum, you can visit Norwegian family homes from several time periods in a magical 19th century Oslo apartment building relocated from Wessels gate 15. There are eight reconstructed apartments, each with rich family stories behind the furniture and textiles. Here a room from the 1965 apartment has become festive for the Christmas season. Television had recently come to Norway, and TVs were becoming a focal point in modern homes.
My favorite apartment is the one from 1905, replete with gorgeous textiles, and during this season, a Christmas tree. Look at the wool portieres dividing the rooms.
I took a photo of the room in August, showing a rug under the dining table, woven by Marta Kløve Juuhl in a design from the Husfliden archives at the Norsk Folkemuseum.
The museum website describes the apartment style:
The light, bright, pleasant and colorful are the focus, with a preference for both the soft Art Nouveau style, the Norwegian dragon style and “national” patterns and colors in home textiles….Colorful portieres with large, slightly stylized chestnut leaves and flowers, in the doorway between the dining room and the living room, are woven according to pattern drawings from Husfliden in Kristiania in 1899. They give clear associations to the Arts & Crafts movement in England, which was the more sober starting point for the Art Nouveau style. On the buffet and side table are white tablecloths with Hardanger stitching, while the dining table is refreshed by a bright light green tablecloth with an Art Nouveau motif. Henrik Ibsen himself had a similar one in his home at Arbins gate 1 – opposite the Royal Palace.
Here is the Husfliden pattern that Marta Kløve Juuhl used to weave the rug:
Here it is partly woven on the loom of this expert weaver.
These recently-woven textiles show the incredible attention to detail undertaken by the museum to make these period rooms.
Finally, the museum is even celebrating Christmas on their Instagram feed. Don’t miss “Christmas Traditions in Norway, Part One,” and “Christmas Traditions in Norway, Part Two,” where this handsome young man asks museum guides, “What is Christmas for you?”
If you are a textile lover and planning to be in Oslo at any time of year, visiting the Norsk Folkemuseum should be high on your list of priorities.
Read more: Weaving is Life: An Exhibit of the Weaving of Marta Kløve Juuhl.
My recent textile discoveries at the Norsk Folkemuseum are described in these posts: “A Titti Karsten Transparency Discovery,” “Walborg Nickelsen: A Designer Influenced by Frida Hansen,” and “An Archer Takes Aim in a Transparent Tapestry by Marie Karsten.”
God jul!
December, 2024
Robbie LaFleur is the editor and publisher of the Norwegian Textile Letter.
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