Glass-making in Sweden was pioneered by King Gustav Vasa, who’d been impressed by the glass he saw on a trip to Italy in the mid-sixteenth century. He initially set up a glassworks in Stockholm; however, it was Småland’s forests that could provide the vast amounts of fuel needed to feed the furnaces, and so a glass factory was set up in the province in 1742. Called Kosta, after its founders, Anders Koskull, Georg Bogislaus and Stael von Holstein, it is still the largest glassworks in Småland today.
Visiting the glassworks
All of the fourteen glassworks still in operation in Småland give captivating glass-blowing demonstrations. Several have permanent exhibitions of either contemporary glasswork or pieces from their history, and all have a shop. Bus services to the glassworks, or to points within easy walking distance of them, are extremely limited, and without your own transport it is almost impossible to see more than a couple in a day (though this will satisfy most people).
Kosta Boda glassworks
While each glassworks has its individual design characteristics, Kosta Boda is the easiest to reach from Växjö, has extensive displays and gives the best picture of what’s available. The Kosta Boda and Åfors glassworks are both operated by the same team. While two of Kosta’s most celebrated and hyped designers, Bertil Vallien and Ulrica Hydman-Vallien, have their studios at Åfors, the bigger glassworks is at Kosta.
Outlet store
The outlet store here contains some of the most delicate fin-de-siècle glassware, designed by Karl Lindeberg; for contemporary simplicity, Anna Ehrner’s bowls and vases are the most elegant. Among the most brilliantly innovative works are those by Göran Wärff – examples of his expressive work can also be found in Växjö’s cathedral. Current design trends tend more towards colourful and rather graceless high kitsch; nonetheless, new designer sculptural pieces can go for astoundingly high prices: commercialized designs go for around 2500kr, although for a single, traditional akvavit glass you’re looking at paying something like 150kr upwards.
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Glass-making and -buying in the Glass Kingdom
Glass-making and -buying in the Glass Kingdom
The glass-making process can be mesmerizing to watch, with a glass plug being fished out of a shimmering, molten lake (at 1200°C) and then turned and blown into a graphite or steel mould. With wine glasses, a foot is added during the few seconds when the temperature is just right – if the glass is too hot, the would-be stem will slide off or sink right through; if too cold, it won’t stick. The piece is then annealed – heated and then slowly cooled – for several hours. It all looks deceptively simple and mistakes are rare, but it nevertheless takes years to become a servitör (glass-maker’s assistant), working up through the ranks of stem-maker and bowl-gatherer.
Glassware is marketed with a vengeance in Småland – take a look at the often absurd hyperbole in the widely available Kingdom of Crystal magazine. If you want to buy glassware, don’t feel compelled to snap up the first things you see: the same designs appear at most of the glassworks, testimony to the fact that the biggest factories by far, Kosta Boda and Orrefors, are now under the same umbrella ownership, while many of the smaller works have been swallowed up, too, even though they retain their own names.
