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- Orrefors -
Through the Deep Forest
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- The road to
Orrefors winds through deep forests
of spruce that open suddenly on
darkly glistening lakes, and meadows
and farmhouses set behind
stonewalls. Here are the elements
that gave rise to glassblowing, and
which are reflected today in the
finished glass; the ripples across
the water, the sunbeams that
penetrate the tall, dense stands of
spruce, and the crystal-clear air.
It is hardly surprising that the
glass created here is beloved all
over the world. The Swedish glass
industry was born about 250 years
ago, not far from Orrefors - only
about 20 kilometers as the crow
flies. In the summer of 1742 the
first glassworks, warehouse, potash
furnace and smithy were inaugurated
in which is now the small village of
Kosta.
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- Handblown glass
has thus been produced in this part
of Sweden for more than two and a
half centuries. The story of
Orrefors begins with Iron and the
forest. As early as 1726, Lars Johan
Silversparre received permission to
build a furnace and a smithy at "the
beautiful river that flows into Lake
Orrenas". The iron works was given
the name Orrefors, which means "the
Orre waterfall".
-
- Production of
iron became less and less profitable
toward the end of the19th Century.
At the same time, forestry became
increasingly important, and a
glassworks was built in 1898 to
utilize spilled timber and labor
resources. The basic idea was
simple. The glassworks would make
sure of the most valuable natural
resources in the area - the
forest.
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- In the early
years, output comprised both simple
types of glassware, such as jars,
table glass, lampshades and perfume
vials, and large pieces. Expertise
in more complex technology was
acquired by recruiting workers from
other glassworks, such as Kosta, and
from the Continent. A group of
skilled craftsmen rapidly collected
around Orrefors, and in a short time
the glassworks acquired the
expertise that paved the way for its
future success.
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- Production at
Orrefors did not become significant
until the 1910s, when Johan Ekman of
Gothenburg, who had highly ambitious
production plans and had realized
the importance of design, acquired
the glassworks. A number of
proficient glass artisans were
recruited. Ekman wanted to place
production on a more artistic basis,
and in 1916 he, therefore, engaged
the services of Simon Gate, the
portrait and landscape painter. The
artist Edward Hald arrived in the
following year. This laid the
foundation for a vital tradition of
Orrefors, in the form of close
cooperation between skilled
glassblowers and gifted
designers.
-
- In view of the
artistic background of both Gate and
Hald, it is not surprising that
their individual styles flourished
in art glass, not household glass.
Gate's more classical designs
differed greatly from Hald's modern,
freer creations. Hald had also
studied with Matisse, the famous
French artist, and this is reflected
in his glass.
-
- At the end of
the 1919s, Orrefors glass was
displayed at various exhibitions.
The products shown include
functional, mass-produced household
glass that appealed to a wider
public, as well as art glass in the
form of engraved and polished
pieces. The engraved glass demanded
a very high level of craftsmanship
and was an outstanding example of
the achievements of the small
Swedish glassworks. It also made the
Orrefors
- name renowned
outside Sweden.
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- Orrefors'
international breakthrough came at
the Paris Exhibition of 1925. From
the Hotel de Ville, the Town Hall of
Paris, the Swedish pavilion borrowed
a magnificent glass goblet designed
by Simon Gate that had been
presented as a gift to the City of
Paris from the City of Stockholm in
1922. The goblet became a sensation,
and the prestigious Grand Prix award
was given to Orrefors and its
designers. The glassblowers and
engravers received gold medals. Many
of the imposing glas objects from
Orrefors were created for special
occasions, or to special order. The
motifs in the engraved glass of that
period may seem somewhat
grandiloquent today, but the
technique was consummately realized
through skilled craftsmanship and
the light, clear quality of the
glass. Some of these creations are
now on display at the Orrefors Glass
Museum. The news that artists were
engaged in a glasshouse for the
first time attracted gifted
glassblowers to Orrefors. The union
of glassblowers and artists led to
joint development of techniques such
as "Graal" and "Ariel", and to
further development of the
traditional Bohemian cooper-wheel
engraving. On the whole, Orrefors
offered broad scope for experiment
and innovation with new techniques
being developed and older ones
refined - and this is still the case
today.
-
- Success led to
the arrival of new designers. The
graphic artist Vicke Lindstrand came
to Orrefors in 1928, and designed
glass that was painted or engraved.
Nils Landberg and Sven Palmqvist
came at the end of the 1920's as
engravers, apprentices, and after
service as assistants to Simon Gate
and Edward Hald became full-fledged
glass artists during the 1930's. The
sculptor Edvin Ohrstrom joined
Orrefors in 1936.
-
- Intensive
experimentation and a continuous
search for new means of expression
generated results. Orrefors
participated in the New York World
Fair in 1939 and launched the
concept of Swedish Modern. The
exhibition was a major success for
modern Orrefors glass -- colorful,
vigorous and exotic. In 1947,
Ingeborg Lundin became the first
woman designer at Orrefors. She gave
a new dynamic aspect to engraved
glass. Nils Landberg's "Tylip Glass"
and Ingeborg Lundin's "Apple"
illustrate the graceful, daring
glass of the 1950's which together
with Palmqvist's centrifuged bowls
created a worldwide stir. Gunnar
Cyren, a silver and goldsmith, came
to Orrefors in 1959 and responded to
the trends of the 1960s with such
works as Pop Glass.
-
- Simon Gate and
Edward Hald created the first modern
art glass, and initiated an era that
lives on to this day. This is
particularly evident when today's
designers apply the techniques
introduced by Gates and hald in the
1910's and 1920's. In addition, many
of their productions are now living
classics, partly because the truly
beautiful always survives, but also
because techniques based on skill
and experience never become
outdated. It is unlikely that anyone
seeing Edward Hald's "Girls Playing
Ball", inspired by Matisse, would be
likely to draw the conclusion that
it was created more than 70 years
ago.
-
- A tour through
the Orrefors Glass Museum is a
journey through the history of
Swedish glass. It reveals Orrefors
as a color-intensive glassworks as
early as the 1920s, when a fresh new
approach to color was evident
alongside traditional designs
featuring elegant, rounded shapes.
In the adjacent exhibition hall the
visitor can see how today's designs
give glass its distinctive tones.
Each of them is an individual
stylist with his or her own colors.
But the foundation is technique,
along with access to the experience
accumulated over the years at the
glassworks.
-
- Orrefors
preserves its heritage from Edward
Hald and Simon Gate with great
reverence. But the glassworks is a
living organism, so that this
heritage is passed on and developed.
For 70-80 years, art glass has been
the virtual spearhead of all glass
production here. It is art glass
that has made and is still making
the name of Orrefors a worldwide
synonym for quality and beauty. But
it is household glass that generates
income. Everyone is aware of this
situation and it is, therefore,
taken for granted that the most
skilled and experienced glassmasters
and workers are engaged in the two
workshops for art glass. And it is
also taken for granted that Orrefors
designers spend a good deal of their
time developing new household
glass.
-
- Throughout the
20th Century, Swedish art glass has
been admired and treasured by a
broad public, both in Sweden and
internationally. But despite the
achievements of Edward Hald, Simon
Gate and other great designers, it
was not until the 1980s that art
glass became a self-sufficient
product. That was when the Orrefors
management decided that the glass of
designers who had died or left the
glass-works would no longer be
produced. At the same time, a
decision was made to create a new
collection if art glass -- Orrefors
Gallery. The idea is to present a
new collection of a limited number
of pieces in short series at regular
intervals. All of the Orrefors
designers participate in producing
art glass. The Orrefors designers
are: Lars Hellsten, Jan Johansson,
Helen Krantz, Erika Lagerbielke,
Anne Nilsson, Lena Bergstrom, Martti
Rytkonen and Per
Sundberg.
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- The ambition for
all glass from Orrefors is the
highest possible quality and
exquisite design. This is the same
objective that applied more than
eighty years ago, when Johan Ekman
traveled the long road through the
forest, past the quiet farms behind
their stonewalls...
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- And if you have
once traveled this road, through
dark spruce forests, across the open
meadows, past the stone walls, past
the shining lakes and the sparking
brooks, you too will understand what
makes it all possible. This where
the world's most beautiful glass is
created.
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- To view the
complete collection please visit our Orrefors
Crystal pages.
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