ASTRID SAMPE

Designer Collaboration

Astrid Sampe (1909–2002) stands as one of the defining figures in twentieth-century Swedish textile design. Raised in Borås, the historic centre of Sweden’s textile industry, she encountered the world of materials and production early through her father’s factory — an environment that shaped her understanding of textiles as both craft and industry. She studied at the Higher School of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm between 1928 and 1932 before continuing her education at the Royal College of Art in London.

In 1936 Sampe joined Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) in Stockholm, where she soon became head of the department’s textile studio. From this position she helped shape a modern Swedish textile language that moved fluidly between architecture, interiors and public space. Her growing reputation led to her involvement in the design of the Swedish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.

Throughout her career, Sampe approached textile design with a distinctly artistic sensibility, working in a concretist spirit inspired by painters such as Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko.

“Airfield” reinterpreted from the original from 1955.

Original sketch of the rug “Morgondagg” by Astrid, 1955.

Beginning in 1952, Sampe collaborated with Kasthall, producing a series of rugs distinguished by their clarity of form and thoughtful use of colour, among them the now-classic Airfield (1954). Her time with the company enriched the collection with numerous designs and an archive of original sketches that remain an important part of Kasthall’s history. In 1961 she was commissioned to create a series of rugs for the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations Headquarters in New York — one rug representing each continent. She left behind a body of work that continues to inform how textiles inhabit contemporary interiors.
America, Pine.

Two of the rugs for Dag Hammarskjöld’s Library at the UN Headquarters in New York, 1961, design by Astrid Sampe.

Cypress rug