Carl Fagerlund, Orrefors

Swedish, 1915-2011 Many museums, churches and headquarters of large companies house the work of Scandinavian modernist lighting designer Carl Fagerlund. During the early 1940s, Fagerlund taught burgeoning artists to draw at Solbacka läroverk, a private boarding school in Sweden that was based on the successful institutions of its type in the United Kingdom. Shortly thereafter, he took a job designing provocative sconces and other wall fixtures of brass and textured glass elements for a manufacturing company in Stockholm called ASEA (Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, or General Swedish Electrical Limited Company).

The Swedish design philosophy of “beautiful things for everyday life” is actualized in the vintage glassware of Orrefors. Founded in 1898, this glass manufacturer was one of the leading companies in the Scandinavian modernism movement and is revered by collectors for the fine craftsmanship and innovation of its superlative art glass. Orrefors began making art glass — works that, distinct from mass-production pieces, are made in small numbers to showcase the skills and talents of artists and artisans — in 1913.