Art Form: Finnish rag rug weaving

Location(s): Clawson (Oakland County)

Laina Marie Lampi

Portrait of Laina Lampi

Laina Lampi weaving at her barn loom

Laina Lampi with a rag rug she wove

Laina (Kehus) Lampi (1914-2011) was an exceptional rag rug weaver in the Finnish American tradition. As a child growing up in Tapiola, she learned about weaving from her mother, who had learned in Finland; however, it would be many years before Laina began to weave on a regular basis. Like many young females of her generation who left home to seek work in big cities in the 1930s, Laina went to Detroit, where she found employment. Eventually she married and raised a family. Upon her mother's death, she received her mother's precious loom--large, old and immigrant-made--which Laina valued highly and on which she wove for over forty years. She credited her loom for her ability to make pleasing rugs. "A good rug," she declared, "requires a good loom."(1)

Laina's technical perfection and expert use of colors were also the result of decades of weaving. Like all Finnish American weavers, she was a consummate recycler. Her rags came from old clothing, blankets, sheets, and towels people gave her or she found at flea markets, rummage sales, and resale shops. Recycling these discards into beautiful rugs was her special art. It also was her way "to save the earth." Color is one of the standards she looked for in rugs and her own sense of color was exceptional. Doris Allen, weaver and fellow member of FinnWeavers (Farmington Hills, Michigan), lauded Laina's artistry, "The technical construction [of Laina's rugs] can be achieved by others, if they work at it, but the colors and designs are from an artistic soul... Laina has managed to raise the production of rag rugs, conventionally thought of as a utilitarian form, to an art form."(2)

As a preservationist and proud Finnish American, Laina consciously taught her skills and knowledge perfected over the years with others in her family who share her enthusiasm. She also mentored many beginning rag rug weavers. She displayed her rugs at FinnFest and in the traveling exhibition "A Living Legacy: Finnish American Rag Rugs." She demonstrated rag weaving and made presentations about rag rug weaving to other weavers' guilds. "My weaving life," Laina said, "has been very fulfilling." (3)

(1) Personal communication, Yvonne Lockwood, 1991.

(2) Letter of nomination, 2002.

(3) Personal communication, Yvonne Lockwood, 1991.