"Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook" tells the remarkable story of the immigrant artist Loja Saarinen and her enterprising weaving workshop, Studio Loja Saarinen. This documentary was written and directed by Curator Kevin Adkisson and produced by Vincent Chavez and Elkhorn Media & Entertainment. The documentary was made possible by "A House Party at Cranbrook Celebrating Loja Saarinen," where it premiered in May 2022.

Studio Loja Saarinen, led by its namesake Finnish American sculptor and textile artist, was responsible for handweaving dozens of rugs, hundreds of curtains, bolts of upholstery fabric, and more for Cranbrook and for retail sale.

Loja Saarinen managed her Studio as a modern artist-entrepreneur, providing her own designs and color samples, coordinating designs by others, innovating the Studio’s looms, and procuring materials. She also staged international exhibitions to promote her workshop and teaching departments.

Established in 1928 and rooted in the English Arts and Crafts movement, the Cranbrook Arts and Crafts Studios produced handmade objects—furniture, silver, ironwork, prints, book bindings, and textiles—for a growing campus. Founded by philanthropists and newspaper publishers Ellen Scripps Booth and George Gough Booth, between 1922 and 1942, Cranbrook developed into an intentional community of schools, museums, and a graduate art academy.

Loja Saarinen’s legacy continues today in the Fiber Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art and Weaving Room at Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School, both part of Cranbrook Educational Community. Learn more about the Studio’s textiles online or in person through Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, or seasonal tours of the restored Saarinen House.

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