Typical Swedish Red
Every where you did go in Sweden, you could see these typical red painted houses. On houses built from wood, not only the peoples houses, but also other buildings - even outside toilets!
We begin to see a big change there since quite a while back, they started to be replaced by other colors and other types of building than the typical red cottage.
I think it’s very sad to see, because for me and for many others I’m sure, these red cottages represented Sweden. Now it feels like Sweden is on it’s way to be blurred out or vanish completely. Don’t take me wrong here, I like changes, but not all of them.
In the 17th century in Sweden it was a sign of wealth and status since bricks, like they had in other European countrys, were very rare at that time.
The red paint originate from a small neighbourhood called Falun, hence the name of it: “Falu rödfärg (redpaint)”. It’s based on a pigment which is a by-product from the Copper minings there.
They have closed the mining, but they say that it’s still enough piles there for making the paint for several centuries more.
So our strong wish is that people start to paint their houses with it again. It is environment friendly and protects the wood, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to make people want to use it.
Maybe we should state it as a sign of wealth and status again to make it more appealing.
Would you like a red color like this?
