Oomph - The Women Who Made Sweden Colorful

Oomph – The Women Who Made Sweden Colorful is a book about female pioneers of Swedish design whose glassware, textiles and ceramics put Sweden at the center of the international design field in the mid-20th century. The richly illustrated work highlights female designers like Estrid Ericson, Greta Magnusson-Grossman and Marianne Westman, who started a household revolution by challenging the traditional notions of the home and household goods. The book, published by Art and Theory, has been created in collaboration with the Malmö Art Museum.

Oomph is a book about the women who brought about a revolution in Swedish kitchens, linen closets and living rooms, and in the country's textile and fashion industries. After the Second World War, new manufacturing opportunities emerged: new customs demanded new designs and materials. Many women designers were also responding to an increasingly acute housing crisis, and questioned the way homes were traditionally designed. Although many doors still remained closed to women designers, their work in glass, textiles, and ceramics, and their radical ideas about the future of domestic life put Sweden on the international design map in the middle of the twentieth century.

As its name implies, Swedish Art and Theory Publishing focuses on art books that it publishes in collaboration with various cultural institutions, artists, writers, curators, architects, designers and photographers. Founded in 2012 by Anna Eriksson, the publishing house operates in Stockholm.