The STOLLE ornament came about as a tribute to Swedish rustic culture, based on one of the most classic symbols of Sweden: the traditional Dalecarlian, or Dala, horse. Designer Katarina Brieditis’s modern take gave the Dala horse a spiky punk hairstyle, and it was adorned with contemporary motifs like the at-sign and the euro symbol.
Dala horses have been made in the Swedish province of Dalarna since the 1600s, as a by-product of the joineries in the region. They were originally intended as toys and were sold at local markets. With their bright colours they were related to traditional gourd art, known for its stylised floral motifs. The Dala horse has become one of the most common symbols of Sweden, and particularly the rural, rustic culture of Sweden.
The STOLLE Dala horse was part of a brief given to Katarina Brieditis by IKEA. She had free rein to create colourful, decorative products that contrasted with turn-of-the-century furnishings with a lot of white, and products in light birch and pine that dominated the range at the time. Katarina chose to work with expressions from folk art and rustic culture, with its wealth of colours and patterns. The Dala horse also appeared as a motif in her first textile collection, GUSTAVA. Later on she made several textile series on a similar basis, such as ALHILD and TILLY. Her patterns were also used on china in the ARV IDYLL series.
STOLLE was similar to traditional Dala horses in shape, but the decoration was Katarina Brieditis’s personal interpretation. Each horse had its own personality – for example, one had a curly pig tail. Another one was red with small white hearts, and another was dressed in sheepskin. In 2002, STOLLE featured on the cover of the IKEA catalogue.
