Estimations

1.
The statement of the reasons for the book award by the Finnish Art Society 15.1.2009 (Translation by TS):
The love for the topic can also be seen in the book The Ryijy-Rug Lives on- Finnish Ryijys 1778-2008. The botanist Tuomas Sopanen, PhD, has collected a significant collection of Finnish ryijy-rugs, which has been exhibited in the Varkaus Art Museum and parts of which will travel around in several other museums in Finland. In connection with the exhibition Sopanen has edited and published an imposing book. The interesting and illustrative texts of the specialist, Leena Willberg, MPhil., deal with the history, imagery, and techniques of the ryijy-rugs. The book has also been published in English. The Ryijy-Rug Lives on airs our dusty ideas about the ryijys and shows their visual richness and artistic values.

2.
Riitta Mäkelä, Kaleva 17.2.09 (translation from Finnish by TS) The way of the ryijy from bedcover to bench, to the floor and to art on the wall.
E.g.: With the thoroughness of a scientist has Sopanen gathered his ryijys into a book, a cavalcade of pictures and text comprising about 200 ryijys and covering more than 200 years.
The team also included Leena Willberg, museum amanuensis emerita form Tampere and professionals in photography and graphic arts.
The result of the co-operation is not only a beautiful art book but also an extraordinarily competent, thorough and many-sided source of information reaching from the history to the present. The photos bring the softness and warmth of the wool absolutely hand-felt.

Sopanen - Willberg
The Ryijy-Rug Lives on
Finnish Ryijy-Rugs 1778 - 2008, 395 pages