ArtistSwedish
Berit Johansson
1 active items
Berit Johansson grew up in Vadstena and trained first at Ake Pernby's art school before entering Konstfack in Stockholm, where she studied from 1964 to 1969. It was there that she met Jan Johansson, who would become her life and creative partner. The two left Stockholm together for Orrefors, arriving at the glassworks in 1969.
At Orrefors, Berit worked initially in silver before moving fully into glass design. The collaboration produced a body of work notable for its contrasts: Jan Johansson's attachment to classical crystal technique sat alongside Berit's preference for colour and experimentation. Her Nimbus candle holders, with their pinecone-like form, became widely circulated objects and remain a recognisable presence at Swedish auctions. The Haga series of bowls and vases, in clear crystal, showed her skill with form at a more restrained register. She left Orrefors in 1983, finding the environment increasingly limiting.
From the early 1980s she worked at Ulf Johansson's Sjohyttan studio in Alghult, Smaland, a setting that offered the freedom of studio production: unique pieces, experimental techniques, individual expression. The Sjohyttan works, many of them signed and dated uniques, account for a large share of what appears at auction today. She also worked with Micke Johansson at Pukebergs glasbruk in Nybro, producing animal sculptures in art glass, including signed bird figures.
In the 1990s she established a sustained relationship with Salviati in Venice, one of the most prestigious Murano glasshouses, and from 1998 with the family business Pauly C.V.M., also in Venice. The Italian period introduced Venetian colour and blowing tradition into her practice. She studied in England, Italy, and the United States, and the international scope of her training showed in the range of her output.
For Gense, the Swedish silver and tableware manufacturer, she designed the Harlequin series: wine glasses, martini glasses, and bowls in multicoloured glass. These functional objects, produced in series rather than as uniques, brought her aesthetic to a wider domestic market and remain among the most frequently traded of her works.
Her work entered the permanent collections of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York State, the Rohsska Museum in Gothenburg, Smalands Museum, and Sveriges Glasmuseum in Vaxjo. She and Jan Johansson were the subject of a joint retrospective at Vadstena Castle.
On Auctionist, 29 items by Berit Johansson appear across houses including Gomer och Andersson, Ekenbergs, Stockholms Auktionsverk Goteborg, Metropol, and Formstad Auktioner. Sold prices range from 250 to 3,800 SEK, with graal technique vases from the Orrefors Limited editions reaching the highest results. Sjohyttan uniques and Gense Harlequin sets trade consistently in the 250 to 1,500 SEK range.