Eva-Lisa "Pipsan" Saarinen Swanson (March 31, 1905 – October 23, 1979) was a Finnish-American industrial, interior, and

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

designer based in Michigan. She was known for her contemporary furniture, textile, and product designs.

Early life and education

Swanson was born in

Kirkkonummi Kirkkonummi (; , , Sweden ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Kirkkonummi is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kirkkonummi is approximately . It is the most populous Mu ...

, Finland to architect

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish and American Architecture, architect known for his work with Art Nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Ee ...

and noted textile designer and sculptor Loja Saarinen. J. Robert F. Swanson and Pipsan Saarinen Swanson Papers, Cranbrook Archives, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

/ref> She was the elder sister of celebrated architect

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

. She studied weaving, ceramics, and fabric design at Atheneum Art School and

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

. She moved to the United States with her family in 1923. They eventually settled in Bloomfield Hills when her father became the resident architect at The Cranbrook Academy of Art. She married architect J. Robert (Bob) F. Swanson in 1926.

Work

Swanson was part of a strong period of educators and students at Cranbrook known as the "golden moment". She taught the first class on contemporary furniture design at Cranbrook. In 1935, both she and her mother had their textiles exhibited at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. Swanson left the academy to work with her husband. They formed Swanson Associates in 1947. It was the first architectural firm that also included interior design services. Swanson was typically responsible for the interior design. Among the projects on which they worked was The Koebel House, located in

Grosse Pointe, Michigan Grosse Pointe is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 5,678. Grosse Pointe is an eastern suburb of Metro Detroit along La ...

. One of her most noted products was a line of indoor outdoor furniture known as the Sol-Air Group, produced by Ficks Reed. She created various other furnishings and decorative items including lamps, glassware, fabrics, and pottery with Swanson and her brothers. Swanson was also an industrial design consultant for clients including Barwick Mills, Goodall Fabrics, and the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. She was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in 1972.Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision, 1925-1950 By Robert Judson Clark pp. 274-282 Swanson died at her home in Bloomfield Township, Michigan in 1979 following a short illness.

Early life and education

Work

References