Sweden, breasts and the baroness.
2006
Ameda Breast Pumps
“Noah, it’s dad. Do you want to fly to Sweden next month to help me shoot a breast pump video?”
This is not a phone call most parents can say they’ve made to their son in college, but video production is a strange business.
We were working on a project for Ameda (now a division of Evenflo) whose breast pumps for nursing mothers were based on the work of a Swedish inventor – Einar Egnell. The 50th anniversary of his groundbreaking work was approaching as we scripted the project in 2006. Although Einar had died, his 91-year old son still lived in the family homestead in Tröllhattan, Sweden. In addition, Einar’s basement workshop was intact and the family had numerous photos that they were willing to let us scan - but only if we flew to Sweden.
Scandinavia here we come.
The Gota Canal, Gothenburg, Sweden
The Baroness and friend Petra
We always enjoy meeting people on the road and one evening in Stockholm, Noah and I found ourselves sharing a table with a woman who had helped us with the intricacies of a Swedish menu. Our conversation with Petra was soon interrupted when her friend arrived who turned out to be a baroness. Dinner with royalty, how nice. Can we prove her noble title? No, but we had no reason to doubt her and it certainly gave Noah something to talk about back at school.
After several days touring Stockholm, we took the train to Tröllhattan to begin our work. Noah scanned all the family photos. We got our interviews. Everyone ate lots of herring. And then, all too soon, it was time to come home.
Here’s a brief segment of the video.
