Lambswool blanket natural tones Fri

Norwegian designers Torbjørn Anderssen and Espen Voll are firmly established 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.

The Fri design is heavily inspired by the Norwegian tradition of small, rectangular tablecloths called "løpere." Variations of these textiles can be found in almost every Norwegian mountain hut. Typical is the repeating color rhythm, which is somewhat broken up in this interpretation for Røros Tweed: The colors shift seemingly at random on a soft zigzag pattern. Woven from soft Norwegian lambswool, the Fri blanket has a pleasantly supple feel. The edges are banded all around with matching colored wool yarn. Pillowcases made of lambswool with the same pattern can also be found in our assortment.

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.