Browsing by Author "Essel, Ama"

The aim of this qualitative research was to study how colours are used in Finnish rya rugs and the semiotic meanings they communicate through the rugs. Throughout history, colours have played important and meaningful roles in textiles. This also applies to rya and it is seen as a significant aspect of Finnish rya tradition. The three dimensional texture of rya provides fascinating possibilities of colour usage. Rya is a Nordic craft technique that is traditionally seen as a wall hanging but it was originally used as an utility article rather than a decorative textile. It was only later that it was recognized as a valued art textile with its richness of colours. The current study was undertaken using semiotic visual analysis based on visual data on ryas. 48 secondary data was collected from the literature of this field. The artefacts were divided into three historical eras which were; decorative ryas (1779–1898), interior ryas (1899–1939) and art ryas (1940–1979). The analysis utilised a colour analysis framework developed by the researcher based on Itten’s seven colour contrast scheme and themes that emerged from the researcher’s own observation of the current study using ATLAS.ti. The framework can also be applied to other textiles colour research. Red ryas were most common in the beginning, after which beige and brown took over. In the latest era, after the Second World War blue emerged as a popular newcomer in addition to previously preferred red and brown. At first the colours were sharp, distinct, graphical and performative but colour usage most drastically changed in the latest era as the colours became increasingly artistic, free-formed and abstract. The colour areas grew larger and the hues became darker even though white was found increasingly. The early rya consisted of a high hue contrast which was notable as popularity in red-green complementary contrast combination became evident. Even though the hue contrast became more subdued later, the size of the hue chart became larger. The first era’s colours symbolized the owner’s social position and the power of church whereas in the mid era colours symbolized nationalism, modernization and the appreciation towards visual art. In the latest era, colours symbolized more, the designer’s artistic expression and psyche as well as upturn and advanced chemical industry after the war. The findings of this study indicate that colours were heterogenic and were clearly employed to represent the specific era and its cultural signifance in the society the item was made. The study is significant as it highlights the importance of colour in ryas as previous studies have paid much less attention to the aesthetics of colours.