Anne Elise Jakhelln (12 September 1909 – 19 August 2002) was a Norwegian

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials u ...

. She is remembered above all for her hand-woven curtains and

upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English word ...

. Together with Gusse Bade, in 1935 she established a weaving studio in Oslo which later moved to larger premises in nearby

Lysaker Lysaker is an area in Bærum Municipality, Viken County, Norway. Lysaker is the easternmost part of Bærum and borders Oslo proper. Lysaker was initially a farming community, later becoming a residential area. Today it is primarily known as a bu ...

. From the mid-1940s, she collaborated with Norway's leading furniture manufacturers and interior designers, producing fabrics for homes, hotels and ocean liners. By the mid-1960s, with ten employees and some 500 patterns, her studio was producing curtains on semi-automatic looms. Jakelln received the Jacob Prize, a Norwegian cultural award, in 1958. She retired in 1985. Residing at Lysaker, she died in 2002.

Early life

Born in

Bodø Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland count ...

on 12 September 1909, Anne Elise Jakhelln was the daughter of the politician

Christian Albrecht Jakhelln Christian Albrecht Jakhelln (31 December 1863 - 7 May 1945) was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Conservative Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from the constituency Market towns of Nordland, ...

(1863–1945) and his wife Anna Sofie née Bachke (1871–1954), a painter. From 1928 to 1930, she attended the women's art industry school in Oslo, Statens Kvinnelige Industriskole, specializing in textile pattern drawing. She served an apprenticeship with the handicrafts firm Husfliden in 1930. In 1931, she spent a year as resident at

Konstfack Konstfack, or University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the e ...

in Stockholm.

Career

From 1932 to 1934, Jakhelln spent a lengthy period in

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, Spain, working in Somme's weaving studio. On returning to Norway, together with Gusse Bade (who soon left), she established a weaving studio in Oslo where handwoven woolen fabrics were produced. From 1936, she participated in collective exhibitions at Oslo's Håndverkeren. In the mid-1940s. she used a combination of wool, linen and cotton to produce upholstery and curtains. Thanks to connections with the furniture designer and interior designer Bjørn Janke, she received commissions for producing fabrics for private homes, hotels, ocean liners and Norwegian embassies. As orders came in from leading furniture producers such as Hiorth og Østlyngen and A. Huseby & Co., the studio had ten employees in the 1960s and was producing curtains on semi-automatic looms from some 500 different patters. In 1985, Jakhellin retired, allowing her weaver Anne Størseth to take over the studio. Elise Jakhelln died on 19 August 2002 in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

Awards

In 1958, Jakelln received the Jacob Prize, a Norwegian cultural award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jakhelln, Elise 1909 births 2002 deaths Norwegian textile designers Norwegian women artists People from Bodø