Swedish designer Pia Wallén’s Slip In felt slippers, created in 1992 for Cappellini’s Progetto Oggetto collection, have become enduring classics of Scandinavian textile design.

Pia Wallén (b. Umeå, Sweden) studied fashion design at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm in the mid-1980s, where she first began working with felt.

Her international breakthrough came in the 1990s with her namesake brand, establishing felt as her signature material.

The Slip In slippers feature Wallén’s characteristic zig-zag stitching, with both upper and sole made from pure wool felt, studded with rubber dots for durability. Available in vibrant primary colors, they combine traditional Swedish folk craft techniques with contemporary minimalist design.

Inspired by Swedish handicraft traditions, Wallén’s work explores the symbolic power of simple forms. The cross motif appearing in her iconic Crux Blanket (1991) represents hope in Swedish folk culture—a meeting point of heaven and earth.

Her collaborations include IKEA, Asplund (the Xi Cabinet), Arte & Cuoio, Abstracta, and Arket. She has initiated projects including Residence-In-Nature, WeWorkInAFragileMaterial, and LASTSTUDIO.

Wallén’s work is held in the permanent collections of Sweden’s National Museum of Fine Arts, Röhsska Museum for Design in Gothenburg, and Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne. She continues to work from her Stockholm studio, developing designs that balance minimalist aesthetics with the warmth of traditional materials.