Viktor (Vicke) Emanuel Lindstrand (1904-1983)
Fresh out of art school, Vicke Lindstrand came to work at Orrefors as a designer. Orrefors had already started to pioneer art glass and Lindstrand had some great ideas that would propel Orrefors further onto the international stage. Together with Edvin Öhrström (Ohrstrom) and Knut Bergkvist he invented the Ariel technique.
For a long time, Lindstrand was also pretty much the only one at Orrefors that experimented with painted or enamelled glass. He presented some enamelled vases at the Stockholm World Fair in 1930 that were seen as being cutting edge design. The most well-known example is a white enamelled vase on which figures or faces in black ink are shown. The use of just a few colors add to the strong expression that these pieces purvey to the viewer.
Lindstrand worked in almost all glass techniques: Ariel, Graal, Slipgraal, Fuga or Colora, enamelled glass and engraved glass. Some of the most admired engraved pieces which he made while at Orrefors are the pearl-diver vases and bowls as well as the harp-player (harpspelare) vases.
He left Orrefors in 1942 and started to work at Uppsala-Ekeby, a ceramics manufacturer. There he designed groundbreaking pieces with simple lines and strong expressions. After 10 years at Uppsala-Ekeby (his contract with Orrefors apparently stated that he was not allowed to work in the glass industry for 10 years after leaving Orrefors), he went to work for Kosta.
At Kosta, he tried to implement a more uniform and disciplined numbering system, much like was in use at Orrefors. He partly succeeded in doing so, but up until today it remains unclear as to how exactly many of art glass pieces were signed at Kosta Boda.
Some of the most well-known examples of his art vases at Kosta are his Autumn (Hösten) art vases and his vases that depict fish-nets together with people or cats.
After leaving Kosta in 1972, he designed glass at the Studio Glashyttan in Åhus. He died in 1983 after a long and fruitfull career. By many he is considered as one of the most legendary designers of Swedish Glass together with other names like Edvin Öhrtström, Simon Gate and Edvard Hald.
1924-1927 Art School Göteborg
1928-1940 Designer at Orrefors
1942-1950 Artistic Director at Uppsala-Ekeby
1950-1972 Artistic Director at Kosta