Stunning Illustration from Scandinavia – Celebrating Elsa Beskow

Storytelling happens all over the world, every day, and it comes in many different forms. The content and themes of these tales vary hugely across different countries and the same goes for the illustrations that accompany them.

Three of Elsa’s best-loved books; ‘Ollie’s Ski Trip’, ‘Peter in Blueberry Land’ and ‘Around the Year’

For this week’s #FlorisDesign takeover we will be taking a closer look at the beautiful illustrations of Swedish author and illustrator, Elsa Beskow. Hailed as the Beatrix Potter of Scandinavia, Elsa’s books are known and loved all around the world and they’ve even inspired writers and illustrators on our own shores. This includes our very own Brenda Tyler, who wrote and illustrated the magical Tomtes series for Floris Books.

Brenda Tyler cites Elsa Beskow as one of her sources of inspiration

Elsa illustrated her stories with detailed ink line drawings and beautiful watercolour paintings, giving them a timeless quality that is further enhanced by her greatest source of inspiration: nature. The layout of a typical Beskow book is very traditional: her colour illustrations typically fall on the right hand (recto) page with her ink drawings and text is displayed on the left hand (verso) page.

Elsa’s books often follow a traditional design template: four colour images appear on the right with gray-scale images and text on the left

Her work continues to inspire new projects and has recently been skilfully interpreted into ceramic and textile products by Swedish designer Catherina Kippel. Catherina’s is working with the creative product development company, Design House Stockholm, injecting a new lease of life into Elsa’s work and bringing it to fresh audiences with gift items.

Catherina Kippel and Design House Stockholm are breathing new life into Elsa’s work with a range of gift items featuring the artist’s characters

Catherina’s work has even made it in to the Floris Office – keeping #FlorisDesign inspired!

The #FlorisDesign team love their Beskow mugs! These characters are found in Elsa’s book ‘The Flower’s Festival’

For more pictures of Elsa’s stunning illustrations check out the Elsa Beskow Board on our Floris Pinterest page.

Here at Floris, we are proud to say that we’re the only publisher to bring the English translations of Elsa Beskow’s books to English-language speakers all over the world. If you fancy finding out a bit more about Elsa’s life and the books we publish then check out our dedicated author page or our Elsa Beskow Facebook page.