Elin Persson was a weaver who was primarily known and treasured for the tapestries she made.
Elin Persson was born in 1881. She grew up at her parents’ home Gamlegård at Hög 13 in Scania. Her father, John Persson, was an agriculturalist and chair of Hög municipality. Her mother, Johanna née Svensdotter, was the sister of Cilluf Olsson, who was also a weaver and who became Elin Persson’s godmother. There were three girls in the family: Johanna, Elin, and Anna. Their mother was also a skilled weaver who gained several awards for her work. Elin Persson learned the art of weaving from her mother and her maternal aunt Cilluf Olsson while she was still very young. Her family’s ancestors were of wealthy farming stock which included female handicrafters.
Elin Persson’s first job was with Aktiebolaget Konstslöjd in Stockholm, which had been founded by Selma Giöbel in 1885. One of the first weavings she worked on in that job was a Vasa pattern tapestry for upholstering a chair on a commission from Prince Eugen, a major champion of Swedish traditional crafts. She worked on several large tapestries in that job, including Påfåglar which had been commissioned by someone in Great Britain. In the early 1900s she wove a large tapestry which was displayed at the jubilee exhibition in Lund in 1907 and subsequently purchased by Svenska Hemslöjdsföreningarnas Riksförbund (now known as Hemslöjden) and was presented to Queen Viktoria on her 60th birthday in 1922.
For a time Elin Persson was employed in Nordiska Kompaniet’s weaving department in Stockholm and at Licium (now known as HV Licium), where, along with another weaver, she produced an antependium for Lövsta works church. Licium had been established in 1904 by Agnes Branting, the former director of Handarbetets Vänner from 1891–1904, and Mimmi Lundström-Börjesson, one of the most talented embroiderers in that association, as a studio for sacred and heraldic textile artwork. During the early 1920s Elin Persson was employed by Märta Måås-Fjetterström in Båstad where one of the pieces she produced, titled Enhörningen, garnered a lot of attention.
From 1915 onwards Elin Persson resided in Furulund, where she had moved with her mother following her father’s death in 1912. She then worked for Malmöhus county handicrafts association. She carried on producing woven items for them into the 1950s. Elin Persson was awarded a large number of prizes and awards for her beautiful woven pieces, including a photograph of Queen Viktoria, personally signed by the queen. In 1945 Elin Persson was presented with Malmöhus county handicrafts association’s medal: “in honour of the woman who can spin finely and diligently”.
Elin Persson died in 1959 and is buried at Hög cemetery alongside her parents.
