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"I want to tell the viewer something about glass. About its heat and softness,
its strength and lightness, its heaviness and hardness. About the light that
stays in the glass and the colour that is nowhere, in any other material, more
brilliant."
After studies in industrial design at Konstfack in Stockholm,
Erika Lagerbielke (born 1960) brought her special talents to Orrefors in 1982. Her
tableware collections have been major artistic successes, acclaimed by critics
and customers alike.
Her Intermezzo tableware has won both an International
Tabletop Award and an Excellent Swedish Design Award, and is one of Orrefors'
best-selling services.
The Merlot
collection, too, has been extremely popular. Color and cut detail are
characteristic of Erika Lagerbielke's glass. So too are contrasts. The bowls and
vases Zodiak and Lancelot shine crystal clear; her Rosebud vases and her series
Rosemarine, Saga and Song are all about the play of color. Erika Lagerbielkeīs latest stemware collection (2002) is called
Difference and has been very popular in Scandinavia.
"Iīm possessed by quality! When I design a wine glass, I design to bring out the best of the
wine's features. The design should be obvious even if once has special wishes. The glass can not
look constructed," says Erika Lagerbielke.
Strong transparent colors are characteristic of her art glass design, which play with or against
each other. She handles the clear crystal as expressively as the colored glass.
In both stemware and art glass, the color blue is represented in several tones.
"Blue is absolutely my favorite color. Itīs the sky and the ocean's color, the eternal, the inscrutable and non-material,"
says Erika. "These features have somehow been transformed to the color and become a symbolic color
for the spiritual world. Blue has integrity. I rest in blue and get energy. Blue makes me happy."
The energy that evolves in the meetings between skilled glassworkers and artists is so strong that it
sometimes can be touched. We meet in mutual professional respect, professional pride and curiousity of
what we can create together.
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