Swedish Craftmanship, Since 1984

Civil Engineer Curt Lindquist, in Norrköping, Sweden, is fed up with cloths that don’t wipe the surface dry. Using a meat grinder, he pressurises cotton and salt into a sheet that finally meets his expectations. The dishcloth is born.

TekoTryck AB is founded by the Larsson family in Sölvesborg; Rune Larsson and his sons, Bosse and Uffe.

TekoTryck already had its own in-house colour mixing. At this point we also want our own screen frame production, to gain full control from start to finish. 1990 TekoTryck invests in a screen frame tensioning system. As of today, there is only one of those left in Sweden – the one at TekoTryck; still a central part of our screen frame creation. Other screen printers buy ready-made frames, we make our own. We think that’s pretty cool!

It is at this point (mid 90’s) the dishcloths enter the scene. The first designer we print them for is Anna Petermann, followed by Lena M Karlsson. Nisse at TekoTryck quickly realises that prints on dishcloths may become something really big, and goes all in.

TekoTryck begins printing all T-shirts for Hard Rock Café, in the Nordic countries. 120 000 – 150 000 T-shirts are printed each year, throughout the 90’s. That’s a lot of T-shirts!

One of the most important events in our history – The Japan Concept. TekoTryck, like the spider in a web, connects and introduces our Japan based customer, to Scandinavian designers. This concept lays the foundation for several future co-operations, world-wide.

TekoTryck evolves from being a production-oriented, into a market-oriented company. From now on, TekoTryck has its own warehouse, with dishcloths and velour towels in stock.

The first dishcloth delivery for USA is shipped – ever since, we have delivered millions of printed dishcloths to North America. Together with our customers we have introduced the dishcloth to the North American market, using the phrase ‘The Swedish Dishcloth’. We are quite proud of how the launch has turned out.

A third relocation for TekoTryck, since other tenants in the building need more space. TekoTryck just moves to the other side of the street (Thure Carlsson väg 14), but it also turns out to be a major revitalization for the company. We are still here, in 2024.

Nisse meets with a designer, Maria Holmer Dahlgren, in Stockholm. Maria suggests Nisse to contact Christian at Formpress. Her instinct says that our two companies should be able to do much together and help each other. And how right she is… from that day on, Formpress are still our close friends and partners.

TekoTryck provides screen printed dishcloths to H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB), with their own designs. The dishcloth reaches 14 different countries through one channel. TekoTryck is one of two Swedish H&M suppliers, and for 7 years we deliver dishcloths to them.

After gradually buying into the company, Nils Persson now owns 100% of TekoTryck.

At this point TekoTryck passes 20 000 unique printed artworks since the start, 1984. Artworks are printed on kitchen towels, bath towels, T-shirts, dishcloths and much more.

2018 Johanna Olofsson becomes CEO of TekoTryck. Though it all started in 1984, by the Larsson family, TekoTryck is from now on run by a new family, steering the company into the future, as Johanna is the daughter of Nils Persson, the owner.

Bath towels are replaced by dishcloths. Since 1985 TekoTryck has screen printed bath towels, table runners and other large formats. At this point the demand for bath towels is in steady decline, while there is a significantly higher demand for dishcloths. With new dishcloth printing machines and an oven on their way in, our oldest machinery moves out, to make room. A heartfelt decision, but it makes the company better equipped to meet the customer’s needs, looking ahead.

TekoTryck wins Länsstyrelsen’s award: Best Blekinge Company, at Guldeken Gala, in 2021.

During the Sölvesborg City festival, Killebom, in summer of 2022, TekoTryck organises the World’s first and largest dishcloth exhibition. In close partnership with our fantastic customers, TekoTryck has now printed more than 15 000 artworks on dishcloths, exported to more than 60 countries. The exhibition is a success.

TekoTryck recieves the award ‘Di Gasell 2023’, a yearly award since 2000, appointed by the magazine “Dagens Industri”, to the fastest growing companies in Sweden. TekoTryck meets all the hard-earned criteria required of a Gazelle company. Only a few succeed.

TekoTryck certifies for AAA + 15 years with the highest credit rating. That means we are one of 2481 companies, out of 681 879 limited companies in Sweden, with the highest credit rating between 2009–2024. We proudly stand up for this achievement!