Birgittaskolan

Birgittaskolan or the Birgitta School was a Swedish textile arts establishment in central Stockholm founded in 1910 by Elisabeth Glantzberg and Emy Fick.

It not only provided courses in sewing, embroidery and lace work but acted as a fashion studio, satisfying orders for underwear, decorative textiles and rugs.

Fick, from an upper-class family in Stockholm, was adapt in lace and embroidery, while Glantzberg, brought up in a vicarage in central Sweden, was keen to support and develop folk traditions such as weaving.

[1] The two Birgitta schools both taught dressmaking but Fick catered to upper-class women who aimed to create clothes at home as good housewives while Glantzberg set out to encourage her middle-class students to embark on careers as professionals.

Furthermore, she moved into the fashion business by engaging two designers, Siri Derkert and Valle Rosenberg, who produced collections inspired by trends in Paris and Italy.