DesignerSwedish
Nils Landberg
11 active items
Nils Landberg's Tulip glasses are among the most delicate objects ever produced in Swedish glass. Their stems taper to an almost impossible thinness, the bowls open like flower petals, and the whole form seems to defy the material's weight. That something so fragile could be manufactured, even in limited quantities, testifies to the extraordinary skill of the Orrefors glassblowers who realised Landberg's designs.
Born in 1907, Landberg studied at the School of Industrial Design in Gothenburg before joining the Orrefors printmaking school. He stayed on as a trainee designer, and though his early commercial output was limited, the late 1940s brought the breakthrough: the slender, elongated forms for which he is now collected worldwide. The Tulip (Tulpan) series appeared in 1953, thin-walled drinking glasses of ethereal delicacy. They were first exhibited at the 1957 Milan Triennale, where they confirmed Orrefors's reputation for pushing glass technology to its limits.
Beyond the Tulip, Landberg developed the Dusk Sommerso series of vases, using the Italian sommerso (submerged) technique to layer colours within thick-walled vessels, creating pieces of smoked grey and green that glow with interior light. His Illusion tableware line brought a more accessible version of his aesthetic to everyday glassware. Landberg participated in major exhibitions from the 1937 Paris Exposition and 1939 New York World's Fair through to the Milan Triennales of the 1950s. He remained at Orrefors until retirement in 1972.
At auction, Landberg's glass appears through Formstad Auktioner, Stockholms Auktionsverk, Olsens Auktioner, and Crafoord Auktioner. His finest engraved and etched pieces reach 18,422 EUR, while Tulip glasses command around 8,700 SEK. Complete Illusion glass services trade at 7,300 SEK. The 159 items on Auctionist confirm his position as one of Orrefors's most collected designers.