The Swedish-born Count Louis Sparre was one of the pioneers in the modern Finnish art industry. He founded the factory Iris in Porvoo, where he designed and made furniture and ceramic objects. The factory's production was idealistic in manner, production was united on a small scale with a tendency toward artistically perfect design. As a cosmopolitan, Sparre took fresh impressions of art nouveau in European art industry centers of the day.

     Born in Gravellona Lomellina, Italy, in 1863 he was the son of Pehr Ambjörn Sparre af Söfdeborg and Teresita Adèle Josefa Gaetana Barbavara. His father had served as head of the banknote printing company for the Swedish National Bank. He spent his early childhood with the mother at Villa Teresita in Gravellona while his father was often on business trips. After having suffered an accident, his mother died when he was four years old. He then moved with his father in Paris prior to being sent to Sweden for school studies. He attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts before relocating to Paris.  

     Sparre was a student at Académie Julian in Paris from 1887 until 1890. He studied with Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Eero Järnefelt and Emil Wikström and took part in painting trips in Karelia with Kallela and Wikström. Sparre is often mentioned as a founder of the Karelianism movement, along with Akseli Gallen-Kallela. In 1891 two of his works were exhibited at the Paris Salon.
    Sparre came to Finland in 1890 at the invitation of his friend from Paris, Axel Gallén (Akseli Gallen-Kallela). In the early 1890s Sparre, together with other Finnish Karelianists, frequented outdoor activites including hiking and skiing in Karelia. The second trip in 1893 was at the same time Sparre's honeymoon with Eva Mannerheim, the sister of Finnish military leader and statesman Gustaf Mannerheim. During the journey the group focused on observed nature, the people and the material culture. The impressions of which appeared in Sparre's subsequent paintings and drawings.
    Gallen-Kallela acquired and interest in industrial art directly from his interactions with Sparre. From Sparre's earliest furniture drawings, a furniture competition was arranged in 1894 by the friends of the Finnish craftsmen. Sparre received second place honor in the competition, which called for interior design to follow a new international “Finnish style” championed by Sparre. Critics noted the entry highlighted, "great independence and a wealth of ideas", but the award committee felt it did not contain enough Finnish “tradition.” This objection did not deter Sparre who founded the furniture factory Iris in 1897. After being impressed by the ceramic works by noted artist and ceramicist A.W. Finch, Sparre invited him to come to Porvoo and head the Iris ceramics department.
    During Sparre’s time at the factory they made both cutsom furniture and furniture according to his own drawings. They processed orders for entire interiors, not only furniture but also fabrics and carpets. The exported to the U.S. thorugh the English company Liberty & Co., and exported extensively to Russia. Commissions included the upper class in St. Petersburg such as a multi-room design for the Countess Marie von Etter, and a design for Count Tolstoy's villa near Viborg. In Finland, public commissions including the Old Student House in Helsinki in 1901, the restaurants Kajsaniemi and Central, and an officer club for the Finnish Guard Battalion.

     In 1902, despite a robust output of work, operations at the factory were troubled leading to an early bankruptcy after only five years of operation. This has perplexed many over the decades considering the interest in its aftermarket products remained strong and still stand today. A conflict between Sparre's personal ideals and the factory's management may have contributed to the failure.

     Sparre was mainly known as furniture designer, but he was also familiar with metal forging objects in iron, brass, copper and silver. He designed craft models and textiles that were made by the goldsmith business A.A. Alm in Porvoo. At the request of his friend Karl Emil Ståhlberg, Sparre worked as the director for the first Finnish fictional film, the 20-minute-long Salaviinanpolttajat (Secret liquor smokers) produced in 1907. Together with his wife, he founded a drawing studio, the art industry drawing agency Eva and Louis Sparre, where the couple continued their diverse activities in various areas of the art industry until 1908.

     After 1908 Sparre was mainly active as a portrait painter and graphic artist. As an athlete he participated in the individual and team fencing events at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912.

     He also traveled extensively, extending from Europe to North Africa and Egypt. In Sweden, Gotland became an important place for him. He built a villa in Ljugarn and directed much of his artistic interest as a cartoonist and a watercolorist of the Gotland nature.

     Sparre also worked with graphics. He was especially fond of the idyllic views of his home town of Porvoo, which he depicted in several etchings. The sculpture "Det Gamla Borgå" received a special cultural-historical weight as a pamphlet for the preservation of old Porvoo. In addition, Sparre illustrated an edition of J.L. Runeberg's epic Elgskyttarne (1892), and in 1930 he published drawings depicting the journey in the Farrell in the book Among the descendants of the Kalevala people.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• The Metropolitan Museum

• The Finnish National Gallery

• The Brooklyn Museum

• Musée d'Orsay

• The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm

• KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art

• The Porvoo Museum

• The Gallen-Kallelan Museo

• Gothenburg Art Museum

• Louis Sparre biography at the Amos Anderson Art Museum