Old pattern. New Shape.

A woman stenciling a butterfly and leaf pattern onto paper.

Light wood tiles decorated with a repeating pattern of orange geometric shapes, yellow leaves, and dark red flowers.

Together with artist and heritage painter Helena Bratt, we turned our Shape Storage cabinets into a meeting point between old and new. In both Gothenburg and Stockholm, Helena stencil-painted a cabinet live in front of visitors, using a traditional pattern from Kristofers, one of the seven Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

A blonde woman with bangs smiles while standing in a room displaying hanging denim garments.

Two paint brushes, a jar of black dye, a jar of brown powder, and a carton of eggs on patterned paper.

“Stencil painting is my speciality. I work with local pattern traditions rooted in Hälsingland, and the pattern used on the cabinet comes from the lower hall at Kristofers. I adapted the scale and colour palette of the pattern specifically for this project.” Helena explains.

A gloved hand painting white over a blue stenciled pattern on a wooden surface.

A snow-covered building with a light blue patterned wall in orange, yellow, and dark blue floral designs.

Helena Bratt has roots in the area around Edsbyn and works with both contemporary art and traditional techniques. She is trained in traditional materials and methods and has, among other projects, worked with stencil painting on two barns in Hälsingland. She also teaches these traditional techniques, helping to pass the knowledge on to future generations.

Traditional painting in a new context

For Edsbyn, the collaboration was a way of bringing together two expressions from the same place: a traditional Hälsingland pattern and a contemporary storage cabinet made in Edsbyn.