Ida lambswool blanket

We're always impressed by the sure knack for style and color combinations that goes into the designs for Røros Tweed's blankets and pillowcases. For the Ida design, the designer duo Anderssen & Voll drew inspiration from patchwork quilts and hand-woven tapestries. The final pattern was created to scale from colored paper, traces of the handwork were thus preserved and found their way into the woven pattern. This has resulted in a rather small-scale, graphic pattern, which thanks to the unexciting, perfectly coordinated colors in muted tones or pastel, has an overall calm effect, but still gives a beautiful color accent on the sofa. The colors are also chosen to correspond with those of other Røros Tweed blankets and pillowcases. For the soft wool fabric, Røros Tweed uses Norwegian lambswool in its usual soft, supple quality. The surfaces of the fabric are additionally roughened, making the already pliant, warm lambswool even softer and more voluminous and able to trap even more heat-insulating air.

Norwegian designers Torbjørn Anderssen and Espen Voll are a force to be reckoned with in Scandinavia, their designs internationally renowned. They have a long-standing partnership with Røros Tweed - the duo designed the first blanket designs for Røros Tweed when they founded their label Norway Says. In the meantime, Anderssen & Voll have received several awards for their work, including for some of their Røros designs. Tradition and modern trends inspire them equally and flow into their timeless designs.

One of the aspects that make the Norwegian textile company Røros Tweed special is the high degree of its vertical range of manufacture. Their in-house manufacturing includes even the design process while developing the designs in cooperation with well-known local and international designers. And it’s a matter of honouring local traditions and skills for Røros Tweed that all production processes — from shearing to weaving — are based in Norway. But there is more to it.

The initial motivation behind starting something new in the Norwegian mining town of Røros was a philanthropical one. The industrialist Peder Hiort (1715–1789) bequeathed his fortune to a foundation under the condition that the institute should use the money to purchase wool so that the needy of Røros could use it for their woven piecework, which the foundation would buy up in turn.
Røros Tweed still lives up to this tradition of responsible trading, tracing back to the Hiort Foundation. Moreover, they have their production honed in on technical advancements and ecologically conscious procedures – the design and manufacturing processes factor in saving resources, reducing costs and minimising waste. Production materials qualify by their reusability, plus, the production cycle constantly reintegrates any remnants.

Røros Tweed exclusively resources their wool from sheep farms in the area. The climate in the mountains is extremely harsh, but there is an advantage to this: The farmers can dispense with pest control since the region is mostly insect-free and, therefore, with chemical treatments of the wool.