Pennants, pennants, pennants...

STOCKHOLM, GRANKULLAVIK, HAGFORS, DUVED, ALVESTA, SKÄNNINGE, GÖTEBORG, MUNKFORS, UNDERSÅKER, BÅSTAD, KIRUNA, STAVANGER, ÖSTERSUND, MORA...

Most every town in Sweden had one or more different pennants from Frösö Handtryck between the 1950s and 1970s. The pennants were often adorned with the pride of the place, everything from mountain landscapes in Åre to the newly built metro station in Vällingby. If it was a very small town, it could be a church, a crossroads, a bikini-clad lady or a newly built municipal building that adorned the pennant.

Ingeborg Själander started as a trainee and summer worker at Frösö Handtryck in 1972 and then became an employee in 1974. Ingeborg printed pennants at a furious pace during the 70s, it could be over 1000 pennants that passed under her hands one working day.

Around 2000 different pennants were printed, most with three to four colors. The colors used at that time were far from today's water-based pigment colors and all frames were washed with white spirit, which is a strong solvent.

- "It was probably not good to sit in those fumes," says Ingeborg. "I worked in the 'little print shop' where we also printed thousands of number labels for sports competitions. Often in series from 1 to 1000, so it was a lot of counting and a lot of fun.

Ingeborg is now retired but is the one who knows most about the company's history after 47 years, some years also as operator and co-owner. Today, together with Hans-Ove Ström and Malin Kellhorn, she is the company's master printer and sews a lot of products. The old solvents in the printing house are a thing of the past, today's inks are environmentally optimized and if you visit the printing house when it is in full swing, you will feel that it smells of nothing more than freshly brewed afternoon coffee.

Lots of original drawings of the old pennants remain, including a rarity from the 1958 World Cup. Some of the originals are on display in our shop, maybe you'll find the childhood vacation spot you almost forgot the name of. As we said, all it took was a crossroads or a bridge to make a pennant!