Table Lamp in Frosted Glass, Sea-Grass Shade and Brass by Edward Hald for Orrefors, Sweden, 1940s

Details

Description

Paris, 1909. A young Swedish artist is studying under Henri Matisse. Eight years later, he arrives at a glassworks deep … Read more Paris, 1909. A young Swedish artist is studying under Henri Matisse. Eight years later, he arrives at a glassworks deep in the forests of Småland.

His name was Edward Hald, and the journey between those two places would become part of one of the most remarkable chapters in Swedish design history.

Before glass entered his life, Hald had already moved through several worlds. Born in Stockholm in 1883, he studied in Leipzig, explored architecture and eventually turned toward art. In Paris, he became a pupil of Henri Matisse, encountering the new ideas about colour, line and expression that were transforming European art.

Then, in 1917, Hald arrived at Orrefors.

The contrast could hardly have been greater.

from the studios and boulevards of Paris to a glassworks surrounded by the forests of Småland. Here, the atmosphere was shaped by fire and craftsmanship. The intense heat of the furnaces, molten glass turning at the end of a blowpipe and generations of knowledge carried in the hands of the glassworkers.

It was here that Hald found the material that would define his career.

Together with Simon Gate and the highly skilled craftsmen at Orrefors, Hald became one of the central figures in the transformation of Swedish glass from industrial production into an internationally recognised artistic medium.

Glass offered possibilities that painting never could.

It could capture light. It could diffuse it, reflect it and allow it to travel through the material itself. A surface could be clear or frosted, smooth or engraved. Colour could appear solid in one moment and almost disappear when illuminated.

Hald understood those qualities exceptionally well.

His work frequently carried a narrative and poetic character. Fish, figures, landscapes and scenes from everyday life appeared across his glass, turning functional objects into small worlds of their own.

Then came Paris, 1925.

Orrefors presented its work at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the exhibition that would later lend its name to Art Deco.

The Swedish glass caused an international sensation.

Its clarity, restraint and delicate decoration offered something distinctly different, and Hald was awarded a Grand Prix. Orrefors had achieved its international breakthrough.

The young artist who had once travelled to Paris to learn was now returning with a new Swedish language of glass.

This table lamp was designed by Edward Hald for Orrefors and belongs to that remarkable tradition.

Here, Hald’s understanding of glass becomes inseparable from his understanding of light.

The body is formed in frosted glass, its cool, softly textured surface catching and diffusing the light rather than simply allowing it to pass through. The effect is gentle and atmospheric, giving the glass a quiet luminosity.

Above it sits a shade made from natural seagrass.

The organic texture of the seagrass introduces an entirely different sensation. Its woven surface has a warmth and tactility that contrasts beautifully with the cool smoothness of the frosted glass. When illuminated, the light filters softly through the fibres, creating a warm and intimate glow.

And then there is the brass.

Its warm golden surface provides another counterpoint to the materials surrounding it. Cool glass against warm metal. Smoothness against the natural texture of woven seagrass. Transparency and light against something solid and substantial.

When the lamp is unlit, these materials can be experienced individually.

Switch it on, and they begin to interact.

Light settles behind the seagrass shade. The woven fibres become more pronounced. The frosted glass takes on a soft glow, while small reflections appear across the brass and warm its surface.

It is precisely this relationship between material, texture and light that makes the lamp so compelling.

By 1930, Hald would take his fascination with glass and light to an extraordinary scale with Himmelsgloben, the Celestial Globe, created for the Stockholm Exhibition. Its engraved constellations transformed clear crystal into an image of the heavens, with light allowing stars and figures to appear almost suspended within the glass.

It was the culmination of an idea that runs through so much of Hald’s work.

Glass was never simply a material. It was a way of working with light.

More than a century after Hald first arrived at Orrefors, this lamp still carries something of that world within it.

The forests outside the glassworks. The heat of the furnace. The coolness of finished glass. The rough natural texture of seagrass. The warmth of brass beneath the hand. And the transformation that occurs when darkness falls and the lamp is illuminated.

from Matisse’s Paris to the furnaces of Orrefors, and from Småland back out into the world.

This lamp belongs to that extraordinary journey. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



issues arising from misattribution,
European Plug (up to 250V).The wiring of this item may be original and might need replacement, if not specified otherwise. See less