The path to craft can vary. Sometimes it's inherited over generations; sometimes it's ignited by a chance encounter with a master craftsperson. For artist Fredrik Nielsen, it was sparked by the 1985 Swedish coming-of-age film My Life as a Dog.
It follows Ingemar, the troubled young protagonist, who is sent away from his dying mother to live with his aunt and uncle in Småland province, home to Glasriket ('the Kingdom of Crystal'), Sweden's glass-making capital. 'It's a really cute movie,' says Nielsen.' Life is very simple; the guys are working in the hot shop, the wives are packing the glass. This little boy's mother is sick, then passes away, so he comes down to this glass kingdom, where the fire is warm and secure. That film made me think about glass.
But unlike the centuries-old Orrefors and Kosta Boda glassworks in Glasriket, Nielsen is in the business of subversion: to turn an ancient craft into something defiantly contemporary. Born in Linköping, Sweden, in 1977, he was first drawn to study glass when his mother brought home an amphora vase. He recalls, 'It wasn't fine art. It was cast porcelain, but it was super yellow [on the outside] and white inside, and it had a volume of half your upper body. I was maybe 13 or 14 when you're not so interested in amphora vases, but it talked to me. That volume!'
In 1998, Nielsen began training at the Orrefors Glass School, later attending the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, and returning to study at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. In the quarter-century since, he has pushed the art of glass to its outermost extremities.
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Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Wallpaper.
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POLE POSITION
A compact Melbourne house with a small footprint is big on efficiency and experimentation
URBAN OASIS
At an art-filled Mexico City residence, New York designer Giancarlo Valle has put his own spin on the country's traditional craft heritage
WARM FRONT
Designer Clive Lonstein elevates his carefully curated Manhattan home with rich textures and fabrics
BALCONY SCENE
A Brazilian island hotel offers a unique approach to the alfresco experience
ENSEMBLE CAST
How architect Anne Holtrop is leaving his mark on the Middle East
Survival mode
A new show looks at preparing for a post-apocalyptic landscape (and other catastrophes)
FLASK FORCE
A limited-edition perfume collaboration between two Spanish craft masters says it with flowers
BLOOM SERVICE
A flower-shaped brutalist beauty in Geneva gets a refresh
SECOND NATURE
A remodelled museum in Lisbon, by Kengo Kuma & Associates, meshes Japanese and Portuguese influences to create a space that sits in harmony with its surroundings
Guiding light
Designer Joe Armitage follows his grandfather's footsteps in India, reissuing his elegant midcentury lamp and creating a new chandelier for Nilufar Gallery