Gray Glass Vase by Sven Palmqvist for Orrefors, 1950s

Glass artist Sven Robert Palmqvist (sometimes spelled Palmquist) was born in 1906 in Lenhovda, Sweden. He is best known for his collaboration with the glassworks Orrefors, for which Palmqvist created the Fuga bowl series.

Palmqvist apprenticed as an engraver in Orrefors, the city near his hometown where he would establish a long and successful career in glass design. He graduated in 1931, having specialized in engraving, then went on to study in Stockholm at the Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design) and the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. Palmqvist spent some time in Paris, but returned to the relative safety of Orrefors Glassworks during the Second World War, where he remained for the rest of his working life.

In 1944, Orrefors launched Palmqvist’s Kraka collection, which included vases, bowls, and ashtrays featuring a fishnet-like wire mesh pattern set into two layers of glass. The effect created trapped air bubbles and resulted in a beautifully patterned piece that was produced by hand from its launch year until 1972. Though there were four models in the Kraka collection that were not hand-crafted, the mass-produced models (3364, 3365, 3366 and 3367) can be easily identified by their number, along with an “S” or “SU” mark, rather than the Palmqvist’s own signature. These pieces fetch lower prices on the vintage market for obvious reasons. Palmquist created the Ravenna in 1948, before developing his most successful design in 1954—the Fuga bowl series (sometimes known as Colora). Instead of mouth or hand-blown glass, the Fuga bowls were formed from spinning molten glass on a rotating mold, which created an attractive, durable piece. It is rumored that Orrefors was sceptical about the high-tech design until the iconic Swedish department store, Nordiska Kompaniet, ordered a year’s output of Fuga bowls. The series’ definitive breakthrough came in 1955, when it was exhibited at the “H55” Helsingborg Exhibition. It also won the Grand Prix at Milan’s Triennale in 1957, and went on to be a great commercial success for Orrefors.

Palmqvist’s distinguished career with Orrefors spanned over four decades, from 1928 until 1971 when he retired. The versatile designer also created glass sculptures that can be seen in churches, the entrance to the SVT in Stockholm, and offices in Dubai. Palmquist was buried in his hometown of Lenhovda, following his death in Orrefors in 1984. The Fuga series was re-released by Orrefors in 1998 to coincide with the glassworks 100th anniversary, just a few years before the glassworks ceased production in Orrefors itself in 2013. Palmqvist’s designs are housed in the (seasonal) Orrefors museum that opened in the place of the factory and he is remembered as a significant contributor to Scandinavian glass design in the 20th century.

Swedish glassworks Orrefors derives its name from the forested, Småland village where it was founded—a site of artisanal and industrial production since the 18th century. In the 20th century, the name Orrefors would go on to become synonymous with fine Swedish glass.

In 1897, merchant Johan August Samuelson purchased the village’s ironworks and sawmill complex and introduced glass production the following year—initially producing everyday medical and domestic glassware like bottles and jars. When industrialist Consul Johan Ekman became Orrefors’s new owner in 1913, he appointed Albert Ahlin to manage the glassworks facilities. Ahlin sparked a new era of Swedish glass production when he acquired the Sandvik glassworks under the Orrefors umbrella and brought in skilled artisans and designers to develop new collections.

In 1914, Orrefors began manufacturing crystal. Shortly after, glass masters Simon Gate and Edward Hald came on board to design new patterns and forms, with a focus on etching and overlay techniques. The two also began to experiment with the innovative Graal (grail) technique, which was developed at Orrefors by master glassblower Knut Bergqvist. By 1917, Gate and Hald introduced engraved, figurative patterns.

Orrefors’s reputation for excellence spread internationally in the mid-1920s; first as a result of the Orrefors presentation at the Gothenburg Exhibition in 1923, and then through participation in the landmark Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1925, where Orrefors and the artists themselves were awarded the Grand Prix. The company grew and expanded its product lines.

In 1928, designer-artist Vicke Lindstrand joined Orrefors and introduced a more sculptural, more modernist aesthetic. Following the success Orrefors and Lindstrand found at the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition, the company would become increasingly associated with simple and subtle forms through the postwar era. In 1946, Orrefors hired architect-designer Carl Fagerlund to expand its crystal lighting offering. 

Over the years, Orrefors designers developed a number of new glass making techniques. Vicke Lindstrand and Edvin Öhrström introduced Ariel in the 1930s; while the 1940s saw Sven Palmqvist’s Kraka and Ravenna techniques. Nils Landberg’s slender Tulpan (1957) and Ingeborg Lundin’s delicate Äpplet (1955)—both icons of midcentury modern Swedish design—were created using the Fuga technique. The 1960s are associated with Gunnar Cyrén’s Pop glass, and since the 1970s, designers such as Olle Alberius, Eva Englund, Lars Hellsten, Anne Nilsson, Erika Lagerbielke, Helen Krantz have all contributed to Orrefors’s rich heritage.

Today the company operates as Orrefors Kosta Boda AB and is the largest glassworks group in Scandinavia. It develops, produces, and distributes a wide range of utility and art glass for private and public use. Since 2005, Orrefors Kosta Boda AB has been part of New Wave Group, which works with several brands in the consumer and corporate market in the areas of sport, leisure, furnishings, and gifts.

The Orrefors glassworks facilities in Orrefors closed in 2013. The Orrefors Museum is still there, open during the summer.