Design Room & Designer

”I am happy to work with themes. The glass holds possibilities that no other material can offer. It is like scooping from a volcano, where the glowing mass quickly transforms into ice. To capture the expression and the light at the right moment and coax the glass's secrets from it is the challenge.”
– Bertil Vallien

Bertil Vallien is Sweden's most famous glass artist and designer, a multi-award winner and richly represented in the world's museums. Bertil Vallien works with a mythical, dreamlike and symbolic world of motifs and conducts what he himself describes as research work, in close collaboration with his colleagues, several of whom have worked closely with Vallien for decades. Bertil Vallien is best known as the master of sand casting. His massive, deeply blue-coloured boats belong to modern glass history. Creator of Château, one of Kosta Boda's best-selling tableware ranges.

Bertil Vallien was 25 years old when he came to Kosta in 1963, after attending Konstfack and studying in the USA and Mexico. At Konstfack he studied ceramics and had the legendary Stig Lindberg as his main teacher.

Bertil has designed the hotel lobby, and the feeling conveyed upon stepping into the hotel is that of the origin of glass and the environment of the glassworks.

On 21 March 2018, we received the sad news that Ulrica Hydman Vallien had passed away. Ulrica was a colourful icon in Swedish art. She superbly combined craftsmanship with boundless playfulness. Her characteristic motifs have adorned everything from crystal vases to British fighter jets. She left no one untouched and is invaluable to us at Kosta Boda and Kosta Boda Art Hotel.

Ulrica Hydman Vallien made her debut as a glass artist in 1971 and she is one of the glass artists who has meant the most to Kosta Boda.

She helped shape Kosta Boda's production throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s. It was her design DNA that shaped Kosta Boda, both in Sweden and internationally.

She introduced a completely new technique, painting on glass, which many viewed as simple, but she managed to put this painting in a perspective that meant the painted glass became accepted, even in high society. At the same time, that wasn't her ambition; she wanted it to be accessible to all people.

”Desire, energy and passion, I love and hate at the same time. I am both rebellious and committed. In the glass, everything is possible. It is immediate, intense, demanding and never moderate. I paint and tell stories both on and through the transparent glass. Without either rules or boundaries, guided by my feeling and instinct.”
– Ulrica Hydman-Vallien

Ulrica Hydman-Vallien was one of the world's most famous glass artists. She painted her dramatic, humorous decorations with free and unrestrained energy directly onto the glass. Ulrica Hydman-Vallien had her breakthrough with Open Minds.

”The glowing molten glass inside the furnace lures me towards discovery. Every gathering entices me anew to convey the experience of the magic of glass. To make a piece of glass a bearer of the light, the sea, and the air. I want to create a dwelling for the light, the warmth, and the sensual.”
– Göran Wärff

Few have such a feel for the glass mass as Göran Wärff, who has always championed the classic master skills of glassblowing and cutting. The interplay of light within the clear glass volumes and the infinite optical phenomena that occur when the glass refracts light are a recurring theme in Göran Wärff's productions. Beyond the glass itself, nature, and the interplay of light in nature, is his other main source of inspiration.

Göran Wärff has designed the hotel's courtyard featuring the magnificent ”Ladder to Heaven” and the glass hammocks – which are a tribute to the Swedish summer.

”I still blow glass myself. It gives me an understanding of the material. Ludvig's inspiration often comes from historical references, such as 17th-century Dutch painters, who loved using both skulls and thorny roses in their still lifes. These baroque symbols frequently reappear in heavy metal. Ludvig became famous for his skull candle lanterns.”
– Ludvig Löfgren

”My approach to glass is sensitive, passionate and persistent. I describe moods and states of emotion using references from history and the present day. The material gives me the opportunity to be sculptural and painterly at the same time. Glass can be both seductive, beautiful, soft and compliant to work with. But at the same time hot, sharp and challenging.”
– Ludvig Löfgren

Åsa Jungnelius is an artist (MFA) and senior lecturer at Konstfack, based in Stockholm and Månsamåla in Småland. She has been affiliated with Kosta Boda since 2007. Currently, she is also working on the public artwork Snäckan, which encompasses the entire upcoming Hagaplan metro station as a tribute to motherhood. Jungnelius is the artistic director of the artist-run project Residence-In-Nature and is represented by several works across Sweden in private and public collections, having achieved success at art institutions and been awarded numerous accolades and grants. Together with LAST studio, she has designed parts of the bespoke interior at the Nationalmuseum.

”Primarily, I want to create objects that focus on storytelling. Using aesthetics as a language, I portray our world of objects in a subjective way. I often use stereotypically charged objects as a template or reference to emphasise or debunk the myth and its significance. When it comes to glass as a material, I love the sparkle and the shiny hard surfaces, preferably in contrast with other materials.”
– Åsa Jungnelius

The result is razor-sharp commentaries pushed to their absolute limit. Åsa Jungnelius's art spans a broad spectrum addressing issues concerning aesthetic hierarchies, fashion, shopping, decadence and the construction of gender roles. References that are clearly expressed in the Make Up series.

Åsa has designed the indoor section of the spa facility, featuring a waiting room, treatment rooms and spa reception. The environment exudes cosmopolitan style and luxury, like a boudoir in the middle of the spruce forest with mirrors, gold and giant nail polish bottles that create a seductive sense of shopping and decadence.

Lagerbielke was born and raised in Stockholm, where she still lives and works. She comes from a family with strong artistic and aesthetic traditions. Her mother, Gunilla, was a successful textile artist and later rector of Konstfack, while her father, Lars, was a graphic designer. Erika’s own artistic interests were awakened early – as was her special passion for glass as a material.

”We rented a house on Gotland when I was little. There was a veranda there with coloured glass panels – red, green and blue. I was only four years old, but completely fascinated that you could see the whole world in different colours through those panes.”
– Erika Lagerbielke

Erika tried glassblowing as early as during her own time on Konstfack's industrial design programme. She was immediately captivated by the hot, amorphous material. After attending a summer course at the Orrefors glass school, she decided to leave the craftsmanship to the hot shop's master blowers and cutters, in order to concentrate on the design herself. She later received a scholarship to work at the glassworks. Her supplely elegant design idiom and natural feel for the glass led to her being employed at Orrefors as early as during her studies.

With both her utility and art glass, Erika Lagerbielke has staged acclaimed exhibitions in Sweden and around the world over the years. Her design work has received numerous awards. Not least, Lagerbielke has been praised for her sensitivity in combining clear and coloured glass. Her breakthrough series Intermezzo from the mid-eighties, featuring the enclosed blue glass drop, is widely recognised as an innovation and a milestone in glass design.

As an honorary commission, Erika Lagerbielke has designed unique ceremonial objects such as the Sigfrid crosier for the Diocese of Växjö, the rector's chain for Linnaeus University, a baptismal font for Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, and the wedding tableware for the Crown Princess couple, a gift from the Swedish Parliament and Government in 2010. Since 2005, Erika Lagerbielke has been a professor at Linnaeus University, where she works part of her time with teaching and research.

Throughout her new art glass collections are soft, fluid forms and a deep ocean-blue resonance, complemented by warm orange and reddish-yellow tones. ”Blue is constantly present in my art and my design,” says Erika. ”The orange and red are, of course, the sun. The colour schemes are inspired by the sea at all hours of the day.”

With roots in textile design and a background from Konstfack, Lena has developed a unique expression where inspiration is drawn from fashion and architecture as well as the Northern Swedish nature where she grew up. In her work, the organic and the austere meet, the soft and the graphic – a balance that creates a vibrant and timeless expression.

The new rooms are characterised by a warm and enveloping atmosphere, where soft colour tones and subdued lighting interact with artistic details to create a sense of calm and contemplation. Here, design, art and comfort meet in a harmonious whole – a personal space for relaxation, inspiration and quiet luxury.

The rooms are decorated with exclusive glassware designed by Lena Bergström – Annemon, Facett and Plissé – where every detail contributes to the overall experience. All the glassware is mouth-blown at Kosta Glasbruk, giving each item a unique character and a clear connection to Småland craftsmanship.

”Nature has always been important to me. In Norrland there is plenty of sky – grey, white and light blue – with long, graphic shadows. Tree stumps in the forest can become buildings in the big city and tracks in the snow can be transformed into structures in a silk fabric. In the meeting between nature and the urban, the organic and the sharp, tension fields arise that characterise my design.”
– Lena Bergström

At Kosta Boda Art Hotel, her art becomes part of the overall experience – where materials, light and form interact to create an environment out of the ordinary.

”My creation originates from the circle of life. I want to shape glass that is felt, that speaks to all our senses. Utilise the refractions and the light. Create images and tell stories. I am driven by the very search where curiosity, mystery and mythology are important elements. Glass, the living mass, is my companion.”
– Kjell Engman

Tireless glass artist with boundless imagination and a joy of storytelling that finds free expression in both utility and art glass. Kjell Engman draws inspiration from the animal kingdom and the world of music. He frequently works with larger installations, where he also incorporates elements such as sound and light. Kjell Engman is in frequent demand for public decorations both nationally and internationally.

Kjell has designed perhaps the hotel's most famous room: the Glass Bar! The three-tonne bar made of cobalt blue glass is the hotel's natural focal point. The atmosphere in the bar is that of an underwater environment; here swim fish, seaweed and stalactites, all made of glass!

Anna Ehrner, born in 1948 in Danderyd, is a Swedish designer and glass artist. She has also worked as a teacher at Konstfack. Anna came to Kosta as early as 1974 after attending the ceramics department at Konstfack. One of her teachers was Bertil Vallien, and Anna was given the opportunity to come to the glassworks in Åfors for an internship.

Anna Ehrner is an experimental and minimalist stylist characterised by her simple yet powerful idiom and her ability to achieve great colour splendour through the sparse use of colours. Coloured veils within the glass mass have become a particular hallmark of Ehrner's, as has the swirling glass found in the Basket and Energy series. Anna is behind several commercial successes, such as the Line tableware and the Contrast bowl series, and more recently Basket and Cup Cake.

”For me, the glassworks is creation. Here, glass is born, shaped and lives. I want to nurture the life of the glass itself, work with it and not against it. To follow the molten glass, the force, which cannot be tamed, but at the same time see the simple and subtle.”
– Anna Ehrner

Anna has designed the hotel's stairwell, where a thirteen-metre-high cascade of leaves, ”My Hanging Gardens”, takes pride of place. The leaves are a symbol of Småland, with fresh, crisp greenery. And it is from nature that the inspiration usually comes.

At Kosta Boda Art Hotel, you meet her work as a tribute to the unexpected and living world of glass.

Ellen Ehk Åkesson, born in 1976, lives and works outside Nybro in Småland. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from HDK – Academy of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg. Her art has been exhibited at several prominent museums and galleries, including Kalmar Art Museum, Eskilstuna Art Museum, Berg Gallery in Stockholm, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Swedish Institute in Paris.

Her works are represented in several public collections, including the Nationalmuseum, the Röhsska Museum, the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Craft and the Public Art Agency Sweden. In 2019, she became the first artist to be awarded the Ulrica Hydman Vallien scholarship.