Hand painted glass

Hand painted or enamelled glass

Most Swedish glassworks did not hand-paint glass. Lindstrand experimented with this technique infrequently and it was not until Gunnar Cyren joined Orrefors in 1959 that Orrefors actually started to produce hand painted glass on a larger scale. Kosta also started late with producing hand painted glass. Both manufacturers were surprised by its popularity and today hand painted glass plays an important role in their product portfolios. Basically a motive is painted onto the glass by hand, and the glass is then reheated in the oven until it is close to its melting point. The high temperature brings out the final color of the motive and fuses the paint to the glass. Gunnar Cyren pioneered the large scale production of this type of glass while at Orrefors. Ulrika Hydman-Vallien currently designs a lot of hand painted glass for Kosta Boda. The bowl pictured is a limited edition bowl (one out of only twenty made) made by Per B. Sundberg for KostaBoda in 2003.