I love coming across Danish brands with an interesting story to tell. And Lillerød is just the perfect example of a such a brand. Lillerød was first established in 1890 when the Johansson family emigrated from the south of Sweden to the small town Lillerød 40 km outside Copenhagen. They started the Lillerød basket factory, hoping to spread their love of the baskets to the good people of Denmark and to find a community in what was a small town. They succeeded at both. The factory provided a good living for the family as well as their friends for many years. But in 1970 they realized that the baskets no longer had a practical function in everyday life, plastic bags had simply taken over and the business was sadly closed down.
Luckily Lillerød was established again in 2016 by Lisbeth Kamstrup-Holm and her dad. The original owners the Johnsson’s were friends of Lisbeth’s grandparents and the philosophy and history of the brand really appealed to her. Together with her father Lisbeth started working on an update of the initial design to fit in with today’s contemporary living. The baskets were previously made from pinewood but are today only made from the best quality ash. Every basket is, of course still handmade and therefore totally unique.
Photo credit: Lillerød
Thank you very much Carolina. These particular photos are by Lillerød 🙂