Mats Jonasson Målerås

Målerås old glassworks was founded in 1890. This was the time when industrialism had seriously established itself in Sweden. In the village Målerås solidarity and the spirit of new enterprise had an ordeal during the 1980s, when the glassworks was threatened by ”outside capital” take-over as well as by closing-down. Therefore some sensible people gathered around the fatal question concerning the continuous destiny of Målerås and decided to concentrate united efforts to reassure the future of the village. The engraving artist Mats Jonasson became one of the leading people within this process.

Since 1981 he has been gathering capable people around him. This concentration has yielded results beyond expectation and inscribed the works in the Swedish glass history as one of the most successful. The production of glass reliefs that has become the characteristic of the works has turned out into a profitable business. Since 1981 the number of employees has increased from 15 to 90.

Today the trademark 'Mats Jonasson Målerås' has a strong position. The export covers about 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East, the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Asia and Australia and even exotic places like for example Greenland and Svalbard. Nature and glassware lovers all over the world take delight in Mats Jonasson’s brilliant glass objects, where animals, flowers and plants are rendered with realism and sensitivity.

Recently (fall 2005), Mats Jonasson at Målerås Glassworks received the honour which gives him the right to call himself ”Purveyor to His Majesty the King”. The emblem consists of the national coat of arms with the words ”Purveyor to the Royal Court”. The title itself stands for Swedish quality, with products of a first-rate, Scandinavian design

The glassworks designers are Mats Jonasson, Erika Höglund, Klas-Göran Tinbäck and Robert Ljubez.