Orrefors glassworks (also known as just Orrefors) is a glassworks in the Swedish village Orrefors in Småland. Orrefors manufactures high-quality crystal glassware and art glass. The range consists of crystal stemware, barware, vases, bowls, candlesticks and sculptures. Orrefors also has a collection of lighting products in crystal.
Orrefors is a part of the swedish glassworks group Orrefors Kosta Boda AB.
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The Orrefors glass factory was founded in 1898 on a site where an iron factory had been operating since 1726. The glass factory originally made window glass and practical objects such as jam jars. However the company changed ownership in 1913, and by 1916 attempted to take their work into a more artistic direction. Two Swedish painters, Simon Gate and Edvard Hald, were hired to decorate and design the glass, despite neither of them having any experience with the medium.[1] They were later joined by other artists such as Vicke Lindstrand and Edvin Öhrstrom. Each of these people had an individual artistic style, but together they created several unique features and innovations. One of these was Graal glass, where colored relief decorations are encased in another layer of colorless and transparent crystal, which gives a smooth surface.
A similar technique was devised in 1936 which trapped air within the walls of the glass. This was known as Ariel, a name of a character in Shakespeare's play The Tempest.[2] A major influence of theirs was the Art Nouveau work of the French artist Émile Gallé.[3] Their designs use characteristic clean lines of brilliant crystal that suggests a frozen liquid. Their work was greatly admired when it was displayed to a wide audience at the Paris Exhibition of 1925.
In addition to individual pieces of crystal, the company made crystal stemware. The glass house came to be a leading producer during the interwar period.[4] In more recent times the factory has also become noted for its chandelier-making. Many of the older designs are still produced today.[1][5]
In November 2010, Orrefors announced a collaboration with fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.[6] The first collection was launched in spring 2011 under the name “Orrefors by Karl Lagerfeld”.[7]