Margareta Ahlstedt-Willandt – From Yarn to Art

Margareta Ahlstedt (1888–1967) graduated from the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki in 1912. She established the Margareta Ahlstedt Industrial Arts Agency on Yrjönkatu in 1924, and three years later she opened her own carpet weaving workshop, Lempäälän Kutomo Oy. A few years later, together with her colleagues Elsa Kallio and Greta Skogster-Lehtinen, she opened an industrial arts store at the corner of Ratakatu and Yrjönkatu, which later developed into Stockmann’s industrial arts department.

When the business moved to Kronohagen in 1932, the weaving workshop was expanded, and at its peak employed about ten people. In 1957, the weaving operations ceased, and the production at Atelier Margareta Ahlstedt-Willandt shifted to tapestry art.

Margareta Ahlstedt-Willandt regularly participated in competitions for rya rugs, flat weave carpets, and church textiles, organized by the Friends of Finnish Handicrafts. In the 1950s, she was awarded at the Milan Triennale for her curtain fabrics. She actively took part in group exhibitions and regularly held her own solo exhibitions from the 1930s through the 1960s.

Margareta Ahlstedt-Willandt was the daughter of the artists Fredrik and Nina Ahlstedt.