Bergdala Spinnhus

Bergdala Spinnhus designs and makes academic dress for three of our Swedish universities.

In Sweden the tradition of wearing academic dress has been dormant for a couple of hundred years. During that time only doctor's hats and rings, and the occasional embroidered collar, were used as "academic dress". In later years some universities have started to take the tradition of robes up again. University of Lund is one of the pioneers.

I am the robemaker for Växjö University (which has now amalgamated with Kalmar Högskola and is called Linnæus University), Blekinge Tekniska Högskola and Malmö University.
I also designed and made the new Rector's robe for Karolinska institutet.

Do you want to know more about academic traditions in Sweden?
There is a folder called "Akademiska högtider och traditioner" - read the English version here (the Swedish version is slightlhy longer, find it here). Both links open in new windows.

Do you want to know more about academic dress in the world? See The Burgon Society's web page.

See also Ropa de Letrado about a Spanish academic gown from the end of the 16th century.

Do you want to know more about the making of a gown? Here is an excerpt from my blog (opens in new window).