User:0036.Oct/sandbox

Student ID: 390036

Wikipedia Article on Emy Fick

Emy Fick is listed on Wikipedia’s ‘Women in Red’ list. Women in Red is an open project holding noticeable women’s names that deserve recognition for their contribution to society. ‘Red’ comes from red links. The aim is to turn red links into blue links.

In Wikipedia, blue links are creates for the reader, It is so that when they read a word or come across something they are likely to not know, it is made in to a blue link so that it can be clicked on and they are taken to another Wiki page where they can learn about it.

This article will provide more information and recognition to Emy Fick, by me creating a Wikipedia article about her life and contribution to the textile industry.

Emy Fick (1876-1959) was a textile artist, fashion director, and school founder in Sweden. She was born in Ostermalm, Stockholm. Her mother (Edla Levin) came from a noble family in Musko, and her father (Paul Kylander) was wholesale merchant, bringing wealth to the family and giving her middle-class status.

In 1921, she married the captain of the cavalry, Emil Fick, who was in the military and an Olympic sportsman. He was an athlete but specialized in fencing and horse riding. In both 1900 and 1906, he competed in the Summer Olympic games. Being of an important military status and a professional athlete, Emil was rather wealthy, which gave Emy good support in her textile projects and future career.

After World War 1, a lot of jobs became more available for women in the 1920’s. Department stores and boutiques were in expansion, which opened up jobs for women to work as sales clerks, a safe workplace for them within which they could sell to other ladies.

Men were known for working secretarial jobs before the war, because they were more educated and fluent in reading and writing, but a lot of jobs opened up after the war and were taken by women in the 1920’s.

Switchboard operating was another suitable job for women, and the increase in popularity of telephones meant more jobs were created.

Due to higher casualty rates, nurses were in great demand, and The Red Cross, founded in 1870, hired a large number of young females to work in nursing jobs.

Studies
Fashion in the 1900 was of high importance to women and grew more and more commercial over the decades to follow. Delicately made dresses were commonly worn, made up of trailing floor length skirts and fancy trims. They were drawn in at the waist, under overlapping fabrics at the bust, and were usually ornamented with a large detailed hat and elbow length gloves.

Embroidery played a large part in the designs of women’s dresses, as well as soft home furnishings like curtains, tapestries, and rugs.

Emy Fick specialised in this area, which was great benefit to her because only richer people in the upper class could afford it, meaning she had a more successful career and gained more respect.

In the 1900s, Emy spent a few years of study at Handarbetets Vanner and also went on trips abroad to learn, developing her knowledge of fashion. She also studied lace in Bologna at Baroness Cavazza’s School in Italy. Additionally, she worked in a textiles department at Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) for Thyra Graftstrom. This department gave her funding to study at a fashion house in Paris for one year.

During her time at NK, she made the acquaintance of Elisabeth Glantzberg, a textile artist and fashion director, who she set up a company with in 1910, called ‘Birgittaskolen’ (Birgitta’s School). This was a sewing school and fashion studio set up in the center of Stockholm.

It was a successful company- Lessons in dress making was the main subject, but linens and children’s clothes were also of great importance to. Hand sewn clothes and household linens attracted the upper class, giving the school good representation.

Birgittaskolen wasn’t just a school though. It also served as a textile studio, where products such as linen, rugs and tapestries could be ordered.

The school offered different types of courses for different student’s interests. Some courses were less detailed and shorter, more suitable for students who wanted to sew for themselves or family, whether it be a simple garment or clothing repairs.

Longer courses were more suited for students wishing to head down a career path in textiles such as designing for the and producing for the public.

Unfortunately, after 4 years, Emy and Elisabeth Glantzberg both fell out after an unknown conflict in their relationship in 1914 and parted ways, where Elisabeth continued to run Birgittaskolen and Emy started a new company, similarly named to that of Elisabeth’s, known as Sankta Birgittaskolen (St Birgitta’s School, or St Bridget’s School).

Elisabeth hired Valle Rosenberg and Siri Derkert to produce clothing collections every year. They were artists, and because of her liking to modern art she had a vision of creating artistic clothes. Her business mainly made simpler everyday clothing, unlike the beautifully detailed designs of Emy Fick’s Sankta Birgittaskolen.

Both textile studios merited well. And Elisabeth continued to run the business into the mid 1930s.

St Bridget’s image was the trademark used for Emy’s company, she shared the same values to St Bridget, which were those of patience and diligence, for careful handwork required these qualities. This is what Emy prided in her work and in her school, high quality hand-made goods.

Recognition for her works
In 1905, Emy’s embroidered works appeared at the Crown Prince Gustav Adolf’s and Margareta’s wedding, and in 1906 she created a wall mounted dress after a Ferdinand Boberg composition. This gave her a wider recognition for her works because people of higher class and greater importance started to develop an interest in her works.

In 1929-1930, she collaborated with Ossian Elgstrom, a Swedish illustrator and writer. Together, they created a woven tapestry titled ‘Leif Eriksson upptacker Vinland’. This piece was exhibited in Stockholm in 1930 and in Chicago 1933.

Additionally, her works appeared in other international exhibitions such as Paris in 1925, known as ‘Exposition internationale des ars decoratifs et industriels modernes’.

Through her recognition and hard work, Emy was awarded a gold and bronze medal for her creations. She also was an honourable mention at London, Oslo, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Malmo exhibitions.

Later Life
Unfortunately, she decided to close Sankta Birgittaskolan in the mid 1930s due to her husband passing away and moved to Ostergotland. There she lived in Stralsnas manor- a large house where she had room for her works.

Around 1957, she left a majority of her works to Ostergotland museum, and sadly died in 1959, where she was buried in Northern cemetery in Solna, just north of her birthplace, Stockholm.

Emy Fick lived a good life. It is possible she may not have been as successful or at all successful if she hadn’t been born into a wealthy family. It possibly would have made it harder for her to gain as much recognition, but luckily with the marriage to her partner Emil Fick, she was able to start up her textile school and studio which thrived and achieved well, and contributed to the education and careers of textile students in Stockholm. She influenced the Swedish fashion world with her school business and personal works and deserves wide recognition for it.

There are many in history women in the textile industry that still go unrecognised all over the world, not just in the textile industry and fashion world, but also in sciences, politics, and music. The women in red project, although not well known, has enabled me to write this article on Emy Fick and drawn my attention to others too, making it an effective project that should be shared more for greater impact on these hard working women.