Holmegaard: Iconic Danish art glass

Among the great Scandinavian glass producers of the 20th century is the Danish company, Holmegaard. This was established in the early part of the 19th century making use of the peat from the Holmegaard moors to fire the furnaces to produce mainly tableware and domestic items like bottles. In the 1920s an architect, Jacob Bang, joined Holmegaard as a designer and changed the direction that the company would take towards the production of art glass. Not that tableware was forgotten, for many of Holmegaard's iconic ranges, such as the Princess glasses (shown below) and the Canada range, remain favourites from the 50s and 60s.

The Kastrup glass factory was part of Holmegaard from 1847 until 1873 when it was sold off and became a competitor of its parent company, especially in the field of tableware until 1965 when the two companies merged to become a single company, Kastrup and Holmegaard, the name that was used until the Kastrup factory closed in 1979. Holmegaard still produces glass today.

Perhaps the greatest name associated with Holmegaard is that of Per Lutken who worked as a designer there for more than fifty years, bringing with his simple, organic pieces, Scandinavian style and elegance to mid-century homes.

Some of his most famous pieces were the Bubble vases which were made using a damp stick inserted into the gather of molten glass so that the steam produced blew out the glass into a big bubble. These come in many sizes, even extremely large ones, and were notoriously difficult to make, making them quite rare and expensive.

Jacob Bang introduced a little fun into the sometimes severe simplicity of the Holmegaard glass with his Kluk Kluk decanters including this one which would make anyone feel they had better stop drinking.

Other names include Otto Brauer who designed the Gulvases, one of the most easily recognizable Scandinavian designs, which were later developed into the 'Pallet' series by Michael Bang, son of Jacob; and Bent Severin who designed the 'Princess' range of drinking glasses shown above.