Nobel's 'Dirty Laundry'

The Nobel Prize banquet, held each December, produces mountains of dirty laundry. 

  • The Nobel tablecloth and napkins are typical of the Swedish craft tradition and were designed for the 90th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in 1991. Textile designer Ingrid Dessau chose to make the tablecloth in satin with coarse, silver-grey linen yarn of the highest quality. The classical woven check pattern appears when the light is reflected differently by the surfaces of the weft and the warp. The napkins are woven in damask with thinner contrast threads of semi-bleached line yarn -  the perfect complement to the beautiful tablecloth.
  • Nobel's 'Dirty Laundry'
    The Nobel Prize banquet, held each December, produces mountains of dirty laundry, including some 1,500 linen napkins and 1,600 feet of superb tablecloths, many stained with everything from lipstick to spilled red wine to candle wax. The laundry from the prestigious event is always sent to a small, family-owned company called Arvika Tvätt in central Sweden. Owner Jan Rööse has plenty of time to complete the job, as the linens won’t be needed again until December 2014. But then, this isn’t your ordinary wash job, either.
    “This is a handicraft. We spend a certain amount of time with every fabric. The napkins and the tablecloths have to be perfect,” he said. Arvika Tvätt works with Klässbol Linen Weavers, located half an hour south of Arvika, to ensure that every piece is flawless before returning to Stockholm.
    Specializing in the care of fine linens has brought a number of other prominent customers to the company, including the Swedish Royal Family, several Nordic embassies, the speaker of the Swedish Parliament and the Sultan of Oman.

  • Read more about the banquet itself: Possibly the most sought-after invitation in the world...