Emma Jacobsson

Emma Charlotte Stiasny Jacobsson (1883 in Vienna – 1977) was an Austrian-born, Swedish botanist, art historian, knitwear designer, and entrepreneur. She was a founder of the Bohus Stickning knitting cooperative, and the executive director during its thirty years of operation.

Jacobsson was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. Her parents, Franz Clemens Stiasny and Anna Stiasny, were members of an intellectual community in Vienna that included Sigmund Freud. She earned a doctorate in botany in 1913; her dissertation, Versuch einer histologisch-phylogenetischen Bearbeitung der Papilionaceae, concerned the phylogenetics of the Faboideae or Papilionaecae family of flowering plants. While studying in Berlin, she met Malte Jacobsson, whom she married in 1912. They settled in Gothenburg, Sweden. Although she did not continue with a career in botany, she published several academic papers on subjects relating to art history.

From 1912 until 1950, Emma Jacobsson was married to Malte Jacobsson, who became governor of the province of Bohüslan, Sweden in 1934. As wife of the governor of Bohüslan, Jacobsson used her position to provide community leadership and improve economic conditions in the province by establishing a cottage industry in 1939. It became known as Bohus Stickning, a cooperative that attained international stature and was in operation until 1969 with Jacobsson as its executive director. Bohus Stickning provided economic support for knitters in Bohüslan and became known in Sweden and abroad. Jacobsson was herself a designer for Bohus Stickning, particularly during the cooperative's early years. Many of her designs were inspired by objects on display in museums, such as Peruvian textiles, decorative arts from China, and antique Swedish woven textiles with heraldic motifs. As director of Bohus Stickning, Emma Jacobsson participated in the design process by editing the submissions of other designers, suggesting alterations, and having final decision-making authority.

Emma Jacobsson’s vision for the company’s fashion brand and guidance led Bohus Stickning to achieve international name recognition. An entrepreneur, Jacobsson forged commercial connections for the Bohus Stickning cooperative with Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm and Gillblads in Gothenburg, and working through an export trade distributor, sold products to department stores in the United States such as Nieman Marcus. Notable clients included Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly. She led the company for thirty years until it closed in 1969. Jacobsson died in 1977.