Rya making: Uhra Simberg (center) with Ester Sandell and Elise Rosenberg

Uhra-Beata Simberg- Ehrström is known both as a painter and a textile artist. She had a very good sense of colour and is often called the poet of textiles. She is known for rya rugs with very scarce patterns combined with an abundance of colours. She developed a toned rya where a lot of colour mixtures and gradients are used. The cooperation between her and The Friends of Finnish Handicraft continued over many decades. During the time she designed close to 70 rya rugs patterns. In 1967 the biggest rya in the history of the association was created. The Metsä rya contained more than 300 colours. The collaboration between Simberg-Ehrström and the weavers was very close. It was often impossible to turn the aquarelle sketches of the artist into exact graph drawings. Therefore, the artist often sat beside the weaver choosing yarns for the pile and following the work closely.