Art in life - Wiinstedt Art Gallery
About
Wiinstedt Art Gallery
An Old Dream That Has Come True
In December 2023, Gallery Wiinstedt opened just down the street from the carpet store Wiinstedt Carpet Gallery, adding a new element to the enterprise.
Here, carpets and textiles are exhibited in an artistic context, and the plan is for the gallery to host rotating art exhibitions related to textiles, along with a permanent exhibition. It is an old dream that has finally come true for Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner.
Village banner from Guizhou in southern China.
Art Tells a Story
Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner has personally traveled across much of the world, bringing back art objects from all corners of the globe.
“Art tells a story. It weaves our stories together. When we look at, for example, a carpet from Iran, the craftsmanship in it is actually the foundation for much of the artisanal work we know here at home,” he says. “And right now, we need to be reminded of how much we have in common across borders.”
The Only Gallery of Its Kind in Copenhagen
That’s why Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner has decided to open this truly unique gallery, where he will exhibit all the beautiful art objects from his travels. And, most importantly, share with guests their stories and how they connect with Danish art history.
“There are so many adventures and so much knowledge in every little object. That’s why I’ve decided that these stories need to be told. So, I’m opening the only gallery of its kind in Copenhagen to mark the occasion of my family business turning 80 years old.
“I think it’s a perfect way to connect threads from the past to the present and tip my hat to my extremely knowledgeable grandfather, Erling Wiinstedt, who founded the Wiinstedt Carpet Gallery,” explains Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner.
The Oldest Carpet Store in Denmark
Erling Wiinstedt founded the store in Copenhagen, during the war, in 1943. After 38 years of being located in the center of Copenhagen, he moved to the current location on Strandboulevarden, Copenhagen, in 1981. This new location had beforehand housed a wine merchants store, and there still some old decorations left, with inscriptions to remind the reader of joys of wine. Whether it’s kilim, Persian or other vintage carpets, Wiinstedt has always sold the handmade carpets of the highest quality and with a high artistic level.
Three Generations of Carpet Dealers
The children of Erling Wiinstedt, Jane Wiinstedt and Thomas Wiinstedt, was from an early age taught about carpets and tutored in the art of dealing them by Erling Wiinstedt himself. They learned about the appraisal, the repair and last, but not least, the cultural background of the carpets.
Thomas Wiinstedt opened later his own carpet store in Hellerup, and Jane Wiinstedt opened a carpet workshop in Østerbro, in Copenhagen. Jane Wiinstedt’s son, Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner, has always been around in all three stores. Today he is the proprietor of his grandfather’s store, as a 3rd generation carpet dealer. Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner is today considered one of the most knowledgeable carpet-experts in the country.
Erling Wiinstedt
The founder of Wiinstedt
100 years with Carpets
The founder of the carpet store Wiinstedt is Erling Wiinstedt. He was born in 1913 and died 100 years later. But he is still today, a legend amongst serious buyers and dealers, where he was known as “The man who knows everything about carpets”.
An apprentice at 18
Erling Wiinstedt’s road into the world of carpets, began at age 18, where he apprenticed in the carpet store “Brodde og Wilhelmsen”. Later he helped build up the auction house Herholdt Jensen, and in 1943 he established his first carpet store in Copenhagen.
He had stores in various locations around Copenhagen, including Dronningens Tværgade, Ny Østergade and Holbergsgade. In the last 32 years of his life, he dealt, repaired and appraised carpets from the store’s current location, on Strandboulevarden in Copenhagen.
60 years of apprasing and by-hand manual repair of genuine carpets, gave Erling Wiinstedt a amazing knowledge of quality and technique in all types of carpets. He was therefore, of course, an honorary member of the Society of Oriental carpet art.
Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner
Proprietor of Wiinstedt
Carpets from Birth
Boris Wiinstedt Zeichner is 3rd generation and current proprietor of Wiinstedt. He is Cand. Mag in religion-sociology and chairman in both the Society of Oriental carpet art and the Association of Oriental carpets.
The first year of his life, Boris lived in the backroom of his grandfather’s store in Copenhagen, as his parents was without a roof. The smell of carpets has followed him ever since. As a child and as an adolescent, he came to the store daily. Here he watched the everyday work of appraising and repairing, and he learned much from his mother and grandfathers’ vast knowledge of materials, colors and handicraft.
Studies and fieldwork
During Boris university studies in religion-sociology, he was on several anthropological and religion-sociological journeys doing fieldwork. His studies and travels have added another layer understanding of the cultural context of the carpets. Since then, Boris has substituted the fieldwork with business trips to purchase carpets for the store. He has founder and bought carpets in many countries, including Turkey, Marrocco, Iran, Uzbekistan, China and India
Third generation
Boris inherited the store from his grandfather Erling Wiinstedt, in 2009. They worked side by side in the store until Erling Wiinstedt death, at 100 years old, in 2013. Boris’ mother Jane Wiinstedt, still works with Boris in the store with repair. Boris is almost always available in the store, unless he is at a costumer’s house showing them carpets or out traveling, looking for more carpets to bring home.
The family
carpet conservator
Martine Simonsen
Martine Simonsen is married to Boris Wiinstedt and is educated in textile and design, and is a brilliant conservator.
carpet conservator
2nd generation.
Jane Wiinstedt
Was the proprietor of the workshop Samarkand, which restored genuine carpets and has since been helping in Wiinstedt.
Assistant
4th generation
Oskar Zeichner
Oskar helps around the carpets store and has a flair for the noble art. He was from an early age taught about carpets and taught in dealing them.
Carpet trade 2nd generation
Thomas Wiinstedt
The business Abadeh, Genuine carpets and kilim gallery in Hellerup.
The business was centrally located in Hellerup, between the two pavilions and Hellerup Park Hotel on Strandvejen 201.
The business offered both knotted genuine carpets and flat-woven genuine kilim carpets, as well as carpet cleaning and repair services. Thomas often visited his customers to advise them in their own surroundings.
Quality was always important in his selection of genuine oriental carpets. The business was known for its large selection of old kilims from Iran and the Caucasus, which was presumably one of the largest in Scandinavia. Old kilims from Iran and the Caucasus were Thomas’s specialty.
Thomas Wiinstedt was taught about carpets from an early age and trained in carpet trading by his father, Erling Wiinstedt. He learned everything about appraisal, repair, and, most importantly, the cultural background of carpets. Thomas had been dealing with carpets since 1978 in both Denmark and abroad until his untimely death in 2015.
