Inside the Workshop of Iris Hantverk

by Amber Wilson

The homewares company Iris Hantverk traces its origins to Sweden’s labor movement in the late 19th century, when visually impaired craftsmen advocated for their right to fair working wages. What began as a workhouse and training school is now a globally recognized maker of handmade household tools and brushes—tactile objects whose elegance stands apart in an era of plastic and speed. Today, Iris Hantverk remains modest in scale, with just 17 employees in total, including visually impaired craftsmen in both Sweden and Estonia.

Sara Edhäll, along with her colleague Richard Sparrenhök, has co-owned Iris Hantverk since 2012. Before becoming co-owner, Sara spent years within the company, never expecting to lead it. That changed when the company lost its government subsidy and the previous owners decided to sell.

Photography by Anna Kern.

“I had worked in the company for a very long time and had been through all the tough years that we had struggled with profitability,” she recalls. With the jobs of visually impaired brushmakers at risk, she made a choice. “There were several of us in the company who wanted to see the business continue and, not least, preserve the jobs of the craftsmen. . . . In the end, it was Richard and me who bought the company, and even though it was very tough at the beginning because we didn’t get any big loans for working capital, we got the business going. It felt very good.”

In this workshop, skill is measured not in sightlines but in fingertips. “In many cases, craftsmen who have or had little vision have had more difficulty learning to tie brushes than those who cannot see at all because they have relied more on their vision than their sense of touch,” Sara says. She believes the workshop reflects a larger truth: “I believe that there are many other traditional arts and crafts forms that a blind person can master just as well as a sighted person.”

Working by touch yields practical benefits, too. “A brush that is machine-punched can easily lose its bristles when the wood cracks or swells—something handmade brushes cannot do because of the way they are tied,” Sara explains.

Customers can feel the difference before they understand it. “The thing you hear the most is that they are beautiful,” Sara notes. “I think it’s because so few everyday items are made by hand these days. But also, because you can see that the products are designed with care and consideration for the user.”

There is an intimacy in the act of making something by touch alone: the idea that craftsmanship is not diminished by disability but deepened, that function and beauty can be held in the same hand. After all these years, Sara’s motivation remains simple. “What inspires and drives me,” she says, “is to see that there are so many people who appreciate the products and might choose a brush made of wood and natural materials over one made of plastic.”

Photography by Anna Kern.

Bake from Scratch is honored to be a retailer of Iris Hantverk handmade kitchen tools. Browse our collection of baker and pastry brushes, pastry scrapers, and cake testers at bakefromscratch.com/shop. To learn more about its tradition of craftsmanship and to explore its full product line, visit irishantverk.se/en. Every purchase supports the artisans whose hands create these heirloom tools.

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