“To interpret life freely, following folk art, in the form of strong symbols such as Adam and Eve, unicorns, birds, angels, devils, etc. on damask is like bringing two cultural heritages together into one. The strong colors adapt them to our time. 'Heaven and Hell' is a damask story in a modern style that affirms our roots. 'Harmonika' complements it.”

CURRICULUM VITAE: 

Wanja Djanaieff was born in 1941 in Solna, Sweden. She is one of the leading figures in Swedish textile design. Her interest in textiles was awakened early and she entered Konstfack at the age of 16, in 1957. She then worked for Almedahls for ten years. Between 1970 and 1977 she was the director of NK Designgrupp.

In 1972 she was commissioned to design the clothes that the Swedish Olympic team would wear in Munich and Innsbruck. In 1977 she became manager of the Strömma textile factory and in the same year she founded the Swedish Design Agency together with Kerstin Boulogner, Boel Matzner and Aino Östergren. In 1987 she designed staff clothes for the Swedish National Railways.

Wanja Djanaieff has also been a project manager, teacher and professor at Konstfack from 1980 to 1992. She has also been assigned as a supervisor for the Swedish National Agency for Industry, where she ran design projects for the Swedish textile industry. In addition, she has worked with scenography and over the years has made costumes for various theaters. More recently, she has worked as a freelance designer and in the summer of 2009 she created an exhibition for Carl Larsson-Gården about Karin Larsson.