Skip to main content

Marianne Richter On Sale

Recent Sales

Marianne Richter Vintage Rya Rug Forest of Wool
By Marianne Richter
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Marianne Richter carpet forest of wool, Sweden, circa 1950s. Marked with label on back (see photos).  
Category

20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs

Materials

Wool

Marianne Richter Midcentury Scandinavian Kolmården Rya Rug
By Marianne Richter, AB Wahlbecks Fabbriker
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A midcentury Kolmården rya rug designed by textile artist Marianne Richter (1916-2010) in the early 1960s for the Öster Gyllen (Eastern Gold) line of Scandinavian wool rugs for Wahlb...
Category

Vintage 1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs

Materials

Wool

Marianne Richter Midcentury Red Kolmården Rya Rug or Wall Hanging
By Marianne Richter, AB Wahlbecks Fabbriker
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A midcentury Kolmården rya rug or wall hanging designed by textile artist Marianne Richter (1916-2010) in the early 1960s for the Öster Gyllen (Eastern Gold) line of Scandinavian woo...
Category

Vintage 1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs

Materials

Wool

Large Swedish Rya Rug Kolmården by Marianne Richter
By Marianne Richter
Located in Stockholm, SE
A large Rya carpet by Swedish designer Marianne Richter. This carpet was produced by Wahlbecks in Linköping, Sweden during the 1960s. This pattern are called ”Kolmården”. This carpet...
Category

Vintage 1960s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs

Materials

Wool

Large Midcentury "Rya" Rug by Marianne Richter
By Marianne Richter
Located in Malmo, SE
A rare and large midcentury Rya by Swedish designer Marianne Richter. This carpet was produced by Svängstaryan (Svänsta Mattväveri AB), the model is called Vågsvall (Waves) and the c...
Category

Vintage 1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs

Materials

Wool

Get Updated with New Arrivals
Save "Marianne Richter On Sale", and we’ll notify you when there are new listings in this category.

Marianne Richter for sale on 1stDibs

Swedish textile artist Marianne Richter is internationally revered for her range of extraordinary rugs, carpets and large tapestries. Her textiles featured a variety of provocative geometric shapes in warm earth tones and dazzling graphic patterns.

A master in her field, Richter created works that adorn Swedish embassies all over the world. One of her most notable pieces was a 200-square-meter wall hanging that she created for the United Nations building in New York City. 

Born in 1916, in Helsingborg, Sweden, Richter was the second of seven children in her family. Her father was a merchant and her mother was a homemaker. 

She trained at the Technical School in Stockholm with a focus on textiles (and also eventually worked in ceramics, too). When she completed her studies, Richter apprenticed for Märta Måås-Fjetterström at MMF AB — the widely celebrated designer’s atelier — where the budding textile artist worked during the summers. After her apprenticeship, Richter went on to work for Svensk Hemslöjd — a handicraft association in Växjö, Sweden.

In the early 1940s, Barbro Nilsson — a Swedish textile designer known for popularizing Scandinavian modernism within the decorative arts — invited Richter to return to MMF AB in Båstad — this time as a designer — where she would become pivotal to the growth of the company.

In a time when machine-made textiles were gaining popularity, Richter became a leader at the facility and her innovative mid-century modern works — as well as those produced by Nilsson and designer Ann-Mari Forsbergbrought considerable attention to MMF AB, which is still Sweden’s foremost atelier for hand-woven art textiles.

The wall hanging that Richter designed for the United Nations building in Manhattan was commissioned by the Swedish government (it was intended for the Economic and Social Affairs Council Chamber, which was designed by Sven Markelius). For more than a year, ten artisans at MMF AB worked with wool and linen to produce Richter’s design. In 1968, the piece had to be restored as it began to disintegrate, partly owing to an effect that chemicals had on the textile as part of a fireproofing process that took place when it arrived in Manhattan.

Richter continued to work at MMF AB until the 1970s, creating pile rugs, flatwoven rugs and tapestries, while also teaching at the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. She died in 2010.

Find vintage Marianne Richter rugs and carpets on 1stDibs.

Finding the Right rugs-carpets for You

Good antique rugs and vintage rugs have made their way into homes across the globe, becoming fixtures used for comfort, prayer and self-expression, so choosing the right area rug is officially a universal endeavor.

In modern usage, “carpet” typically denotes a wall-to-wall floor cushioning that is fixed to the floor. Rugs, on the other hand, are designed to cover a specific area and can easily be moved to new locations. However, the terms are interchangeable in many parts of the world, and, in the end, it won’t matter what you decide to call it.

It’s well known that a timeless Persian rug or vintage Turkish rug can warm any interior, but there are lots of other styles of antique rugs to choose from when you're endeavoring to introduce fresh colors and textures to a bedroom or living room.

Moroccan Berber rugs are not all about pattern. In fact, some of the most striking examples are nearly monochrome. But what these rugs lack in complexity, they make up for in brilliant color and subtle variation. Moroccan-style interiors can be mesmerizing — a sitting room of this type might feature a Moroccan rug, carved wooden screens and a tapestry hung behind the sofa.

Handwoven kilim rugs, known for their wealth of rich colors and unique weaving tradition, are pileless: Whereas the Beni Ourain rugs of Morocco can be described as dense with a thick surface or pile, an authentic kilim rug is thin and flat. (The term “kilim” is Turkish in origin, but this type of textile artistry is practiced all across the Balkans, throughout the Arab world and elsewhere.) 

When it comes to eye-catching floor coverings, the distinctive “medallion” pattern of Oushak rugs has two types of rounded shapes alternating against a rich red or blue background created with natural dyes, while the elaborate “star” pattern involves large eight-pointed shapes in diagonal rows alternating with diamonds.  

If you’re looking for something unexpected, find a runner rug that pops in your hallway or on your stairs. Dig for dazzling geometric patterns in our inventory of mid-century modern rugs and carpets, which includes works designed by the likes of Swedish textile masters Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Marianne Richter and other artisans. 

Carpets and rugs have been around for thousands of years. Prehistoric humans turned to animal skin, wool and fur to craft simple fabrics to soften hard terrain. A 2016 study suggests that "cave lions" were hunted for exactly this purpose, and that decorating your cave with their pelts may have conferred strength and prestige. Although many of these early textiles are still in existence, tracing their precise origins is difficult. Carpets quickly became such a valuable trade commodity that the weavings could easily travel far from their places of origin. 

The oldest known carpet was found in southern Siberia. (It may have traveled there from Persepolis in Iran.) For the flat-weave floor rugs crafted by Native Americans, cotton was the primary material before sheep’s wool was introduced in the 16th century. In Europe, carpet-making was fundamental to folk art, and Asian carpets imported to European countries were at one time considered a precious luxury and not intended to remain permanently on the floor. 

With the variety of area rugs and carpets rolled out for you on 1stDibs — a collection that includes traditional, modern, minimalist rugs and other coverings of all kinds — things will be looking up whenever you’re looking down.