diff --git a/src/svgutils/compose.py b/src/svgutils/compose.py
index 0932fe5..5a085bf 100644
--- a/src/svgutils/compose.py
+++ b/src/svgutils/compose.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 from svgutils import transform as _transform
 from svgutils.common import Unit
+from svgutils.templates import SVGFigure
 
 CONFIG = {
     "svg.file_path": ".",
@@ -109,24 +110,37 @@ class SVG(Element):
         replace pt units with px units to fix files created with matplotlib
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, fname=None, fix_mpl=False):
+    def __init__(self, svg: SVGFigure, fix_mpl=False):
+        if fix_mpl:
+            w, h = svg.get_size()
+            svg.set_size((w.replace("pt", ""), h.replace("pt", "")))
+        super(SVG, self).__init__(svg.getroot().root)
+
+        # if height/width is in % units, we can't store the absolute values
+        if svg.width.endswith("%"):
+            self._width = None
+        else:
+            self._width = Unit(svg.width).to("px")
+        if svg.height.endswith("%"):
+            self._height = None
+        else:
+            self._height = Unit(svg.height).to("px")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def fromfile(cls, fname=None, fix_mpl=False):
         if fname:
-            fname = os.path.join(CONFIG["svg.file_path"], fname)
             svg = _transform.fromfile(fname)
-            if fix_mpl:
-                w, h = svg.get_size()
-                svg.set_size((w.replace("pt", ""), h.replace("pt", "")))
-            super(SVG, self).__init__(svg.getroot().root)
-
-            # if height/width is in % units, we can't store the absolute values
-            if svg.width.endswith("%"):
-                self._width = None
-            else:
-                self._width = Unit(svg.width).to("px")
-            if svg.height.endswith("%"):
-                self._height = None
-            else:
-                self._height = Unit(svg.height).to("px")
+            return SVG(svg, fix_mpl)
+        else:
+            raise TypeError('fname is None!')
+
+    @classmethod
+    def fromstring(cls, xml_string: str=None, fix_mpl=False):
+        if xml_string:
+            svg = _transform.fromstring(xml_string)
+            return SVG(svg, fix_mpl)
+        else:
+            raise TypeError('xml_string is None!')
 
     @property
     def width(self):