The swedish artist Tora Vega Holmström is a great inspiration and the muse of TrashionPattern. I wrote about Tora Vega in a previous post and if you are not familiar with her you can read more about her here...
I came into contact with Tora Vega on a most peculiar way - because of a bobbin lace maker!
A while ago I saw an Instagram post from "The southern Sweden handicraft society" (in swedish it is called Skånes Hemslöjdsförbund). They wanted to give away several bobbin lace makers that they had found in their basement.
I am not that much into making bobbin lace, it takes sooooo much time to do, but I couldn´t resist the free offer so I went to the Handicraft society to pick it up.
When I came home I took a closer look at the bobbin lace maker and I found a writing in it (in swedish): "Signe Holmström gjorde denna till Gertrud Ingers. Sommaren 2026" . The english translation is "Signe Holmström made this for Gertrud Ingers. Summer 1926".
I was conviced that I have heard the namne Gertrud Ingers before and when I googled her I found out that she was a swedish textile and handicraft personality who hade written several books about textile, weaving and handicraft. I even had a book written by her in my bookshelf!
When I googled I also found out that Gertrud Ingers was the niece to Signe Holmström, the woman who made the bobbin lace maker and Signe was sister to the artist Tora Vega Holmström.
I haven´t heard about Tora Vega Holmström before but I got courious and went to the library where I found a biography over her life. The photo above comes from the biography and it shows Signe and Tora Vega. In the biography Tora Vega is described as a dreamer and Signe was unfortunately haunted by several diseases and died very young. It´s quite easy to see who is who at the photo; Signe, the sick person is at the left and Tora Vega, the dreamer is at the right.
The photo above shows a self portrait of Tora Vega. You can also see a book about bobbin lace making by Gertrud Ingers and a book about the friendship between Tora Vega Holmström and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Tora Vega and Rielke became good friends and they used to meet each other at the Castle of Borgeby in the south of Sweden.
I have been to the Caste of Borgeby and I have to admit that I find the place a bit odd. There is something dark and cloudy about the castle and its surroundings. I once met a ghost at the Borgeby caste but that is a completely different story that I might tell you about another time....
The photo above comes from the castle, from the studio of the former owner, the swedish artist Ernst Norlind. Ernst and his wife Hanna used to throw big parties where they invited great personalities at that time, like Tora Vega, Rielke and also the fantastic Isadora Duncan.
The thing that really made me hooked by Tora Vega Holmström was the fact that I, two days after I got the bobbin lace maker, went to an art exhibition. Guess who I found hanging at the wall looking at med with big, blue eyes? Gertrud Ingers painted by Tora Vega!
I got sooo surprised! I had never heard about Tora Vega before and now she popped up everywhere!
I also found this amazing painting by Agda Holst at the exhibition. Tora Vega is the model. Beautiful, isn´t it?
Tora Vega Holmström is such an inspiring personality and I it was such a joy to get inspiration from her to make this collection of sewing patterns. I am so happy to share this joy with you.
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