Public commissions

A long involvement with the arts. In 1936, Barbro Wahlund, the daughter of the Chairman of Domnarvet, joined Alice and Karin Lund’s weaving partnership. A fine old manager’s house within the steelworks was made available as a weaving workshop. Their work became increasingly famous.

In 1941 Alice Lund met Folke in Stockholm, from 1947 – 1965 he was contracted to provided any design she wanted over 10 working days per year. This resulted in many weavings for churches, banks and insurance companies.

Their working relationship led to a major commission for Folke to provide steel sculptures and decoration to form the entrance to the main building at Borlange Steel Works. It was here that the manufacture of stainless steel was first perfected and the industry flourished. Three figures are included, Thor, a troll, and Näcka the legendary water-sprite playing his violin in a waterfall. Inside is the staircase and balcony balustrade, as shown in the photographs. This seems at first sight to be quite wild and abstract shapes, however Folke was inspired in the design by viewing the structure of iron and steel under a microscope and then drawing the patterns from what he saw. Folke described this work as “a real back-breaking job”. The iron used is thick and heavy and was cut, as one can see, with an acetylene torch.

The legends are brought alive, a remarkable achievement in such heavy and unyielding material, this is great sculpture. Then there is the whole frame in front of the building that forms the complete architectural entrance, the two tall verticals, not three, the offset door, make somehow a rhythm across the whole front that is deeply satisfying and interesting.

Folke worked closely with the Chairman of the steelworks, Sixten Wohlfarht, his portrait commissioned for his 50th birthday can be seen in the paintings section.