Helena Hernmarck was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1941. Her mentors were three Swedish pioneers of the modern movement in textiles: Alice Lund, Edna Martin, and Astrid Sampe. After graduating from art school in Stockholm in 1963, she moved her studio to Canada and later to England before settling in the United States in the mid-1970s. Hernmarck now maintains an active studio in Connecticut, USA. She has supported Swedish textile arts throughout her career, collaborating with Swedish spinners, dyers, and weavers on each major commission. Her closest collaborators have been Wålstedts Textilverkstad, a spinning and dying mill in Dala-Floda, Sweden, and Alice Lund Textilier, a weaving atelier in Borlänge, Sweden.