Lisbet Friis

Textile printer

©Karl Forchhammer

©Per Brogaard

©Lisbet Friis

A universe of textiles

Lisbet feels in colours
She has won several prizes for her artistic work
Her creations have been exhibited worldwide

Lisbet Friis is a craftsperson, a textile designer, a master printer and an artist. Since she graduated from the Danish Design School in 1985, she had her studio at Raadvad Factory, just outside Copenhagen. Her passion literally exploded the day she saw the work of one of her mother’s students. "My mother worked with textiles as well as with ceramics," she recalls. "Once one of her students showed me a little handprinted fabric sample: a red dot on a green background. In that moment I knew that I wanted to work with textiles." At the Danish Design School, she learned the craft from Joy Boutrup, a textile chemist, who taught her all about colour chemistry and printing methods. Lisbet’s commissioned hand printed textiles include specific sites like the Royal Yacht ‘Dannebrog’ for her Majesty Queen Margrethe of Denmark and colours for the Ethnographic Collection of the National Museum of Denmark in collaboration with architect Merete Ahnfeldt Mollerup.

Interview

©Karl Forchhammer

©Per Brogaard

Have you mastered any specific techniques?: I have a thorough knowledge of very many old and newer techniques for printing on textiles, both industrially and manually. I use all types of dyes (natural, reactive, acid, indanthrene, Indigo etc.) with techniques from direct printing to reserve printing.
How do you express tradition and innovation?: I think it is in my DNA to work from my Nordic heritage, but to try to renew it all the time and make it relevant in today’s way of thinking and living. I like to make my work simple and attractive for other people.
Why do your patterns feature so many stripes?: Striped textiles have a very long history in the Nordic countries, where the traditional home textiles for many hundred years were woven of plant-dyed wool in striped patterns.
What are your sources of inspiration?: I live and work in a fantastic place in the middle of nature and still close to Copenhagen, so the nature around me is a constant source of inspiration. Then Nordic traditions but also traditional textiles from all over the world, Folk Art, ceramics, Japanese crafts, etc.

Lisbet Friis is a master artisan: she began her career in 1980 and she started teaching in 1985