Furniture-making and silverware were the greatest assets when Danish design was launched on the international scene after World War II. Danish jewelry became world-leading in the 1950s thanks to well-known architects and designers like Nanna Ditzel and George Jensen. During the 1960s, the international revitalization of artistic jewelry was particularly felt in Denmark. One of the best expressions of this movement is seen in the jewelry made by firm Hans Hansen.
Hans Hansen founded his studio in silversmith-town Kolding in 1906. Initially they made only flatware, but in the 1930s the firm begun to make sleek, modernist silver jewelry under the direction of Hans Hansen’s son, Karl Gustav Hansen. Karl Gustav was a true talent in the trade, and by 20 he had already gained national recognition by receiving a silver medal, a Danish distinction of excellence, for his work in silver. Karl Gustav Hansen went on to sculpture studies and travels through Europe during a time of much political turbulence between the wars. Both influences can be seen in his jewelry, with its sculptural and daring qualities.
After his father died in 1940, Karl Gustav, at the time only 25, took over the firm. He started by creating a collection of jewelry called “Future”, setting the tome for Hansen modernism during the decades to follow. Hansen employed several up-and-coming silversmiths, among others Bent Gabrielsen and Bent Knudsen, who both went on to become highly successful modernists in their own right in the 1960s.
After the war in 1945, Karl Gustav went traveling again, but this time to the United States. Hansen reconnected with his father’s old contacts, and after a successful business trip, he flew home in the first trans-Atlantic passenger flight. During the 1960s, Hans Hansen expanded its business, and by the 1970s, Karl Gustav Hansen collaborated with sculptors such as Henry Moore and Lynn Chadwick. In the 1980s the times caught up with Hansen, and the type of labor-intensive quality art-jewelry produced by the firm was deemed un-economic. In 1992, Hans Hansen reluctantly merged with the larger consortium Georg Jensen.
Vicke Lindstrand was one of Sweden’s most influential glass artists, with a long, fruitful career where he set the tone of the style and quality of Swedish glass production over many decades. He was originally trained as an illustrator and was very accomplished as such, which is evident for example in his glass engravings. Lindstrand was employed as an artist by Orrefors glassworks from 1928 to 1940 where he worked alongside Simon Gate and Nils Landberg, among others.
Vicke Lindstrand turned to ceramics and worked as creative leader at Uppsala-Ekeby between 1942 and 1950. He brought with him his high sense of quality which elevated Uppsala-Ekeby’s overall production and was very important for the company’s development.
From Uppsala-Ekeby Lindstrand returned to glass as creative leader at Kosta glassworks, where he worked from 1950 to 1973, breaking new ground with new shapes, strong colors and a ceaseless richness of ideas. He made many important contributions with public artworks, among the the “Prisma” glass sculpture which was uncovered in Norrköping in 1967. At the time it was the largest glass sculpture in the world with its imposing height of 11.5 meters. Towards the end of his career Lindstrand worked in a small scale with smaller glass studios.
Claës Giertta was among the foremost Swedish silversmiths of the 1950s and onwards, breaking new ground in fine jewelry making and producing high quality jewelry. He got his education at Konstfack University College of Art, Crafts and Design and worked with many prestigious projects during his career, among them designing the cross for the first female ordination and the Grammis prize (1969-2007).
Jorma Laine was one of the most unique voices in the history of Scandinavian jewelry, and is considered one of the most interesting Nordic silversmiths of the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a very characteristic abstract, modernistic style of working with silver and bronze, and is best known his work for the firm Turun Hopea, but he also worked for the firm Kultateollisuus Ky and his own firm Silver-Laine. He lived large parts of his life as a recluse in a cabin deep in the Finnish woods. There he lived close to the wildlife and got his inspiration from nature itself but also the from local myths of spirits and gnomes. His pieces range from beautiful geometrical pieces inspired by snowflakes to whimsical but oddly beautifull small sourly portraits of spirits.
Wiwen Nilsson was one of the most celebrated and influential silversmiths of his time. He was the son of silversmith Anders Nilsson and started his career working for his father. He debuted at the Gothenburg Exhibition of 1923 with a very strict, graphic coffee set which was met with very bad reviews. However later, in 1930, his designs became a huge success as it seems general taste was then finally ready for them. Typical of Wiwen Nilssons designs are the clean, geometric lines that express the beauty of the material.
Hans Bergström was the owner and creative director of the lighting firm Ateljé Lyktan, which he founded in Åhus in the early 1930s. He ran Ateljé Lyktan for three decades while simultaneously freelancing as a designer for among others ASEA. Bergström created amazing lighting in various models, many of which were serially produced. With his artistic ambition to innovate and evolve, he cultivated his designs over time and slight variations (experiments, improvements) can be seen in models which are basically the same but produced during different periods. His small firm was renowned for the poetic beauty and high quality of its products and he was the favorite lighting designer of fellow architects, among them Bruno Mathsson. Throughout his career Bergström accomplished many important interior design projects and gained several prestigious awards for his work, such as the Gold Medal at the Milano Biennale in 1950.
Alf Svensson was creative director at Bergboms, which was a successful Swedish lighting firm which manufactured both own designs and – thanks to Svensson’s international connections – those of international designers such as Greta Grossman and Edward Wormley. He was also creative director at the furniture company Ljungs industrier which Bergboms was tied to. Alf Svensson was an architect with sure instinct for new trends which can be seen in his own designs as well as in those of the designers Bergboms collaborated with.
Elias Svedberg was an architect and designer with a long career at NK, starting in the mid-1940s when he and Lena Larsson started developing the very successful “Triva” concept. The idea suggested that quality furniture were to be sold in flat packages and assembled by the customer – a concept that spanned decades and was a forerunner to other successful businesses picking up on the idea. Svedberg was the head of NK’s interior design department from 1952 to 1961 and together with Lena Larsson he wrote the classic book “Heminredning” (“Home interior design”). The book is pervaded by a strong incentive to educate and cultivate the reader in creating a pleasant and practical home.
Sven Staaf was originally from Stockholm and worked there as an architect for some years before moving to Helsingborg in southern Sweden where he established his own firm, Almgren & Staaf. Almgren & Staaf was a successful furniture and interior decoration firm from the 1940s to the 1960s, attracting customers mainly among the upper middle class in Skåne. In 1955 Staaf participated in the international exhibition for architecture and design, H55, in Helsingborg, where he both exhibited his furniture and designed some of the public areas, such as restaurants.
Staaf’s furniture was seen as progressive and edgy and he was able to expand with stores in several Swedish cities. His stores were later bought by and merged into Nordiska Kompaniet (NK).
Otto Schulz was a furniture designer, interior designer, editor and owner of the renowned furniture and interior decoration firm BOET, which he started in Gothenburg in 1920s and ran for 30 years. BOET was an inspiration centre as much as a store. Schulz also gave out an interior decoration magazine with the same name, aiming to inspire readers in every aspect of interior design. BOET magazine was the most influential periodical on interior design in Sweden at the time, featuring reviews by high-profile designers and architects.
Schulz’s furniture was very modern – and at the same time often inspired by older styles such as late baroque. His design was so original that he even patented some of his techniques. Among them the usage of decorative nails as part of the design, a technique that was named “Bopoint”.
