ArtistSwedish
Per Olof Ström
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Per Olof Ström graduated from Konstfack, Stockholm's university college of arts, crafts and design, in 1966. His studies there focused on industrial and craft design at a time when Swedish applied arts were undergoing a significant generational shift - away from restrained postwar functionalism and toward the bolder, more chromatic sensibility that would come to define Scandinavian design of the 1960s and 70s. Shortly after graduation, he received a scholarship of 10,000 SEK that he used for additional study, and one of his Konstfack teachers recommended him to Alsterfors Glasbruk in Småland.
Alsterfors was a glassworks with roots going back to 1885, operating from a village in the heart of Sweden's glass-producing region, known informally as the Kingdom of Crystal. When Ström joined the factory - his active period there ran roughly from 1968 to 1972 - he immediately set about pushing the material in new directions. One of his key innovations was adopting opal glass, a material that had previously been used almost exclusively for lighting fixtures, and applying it to decorative vessels. The result was a line of vases and bowls combining brilliant colour with crisp geometric profiles that quickly caught the attention of buyers and collectors.
His work became closely associated with what collectors now call 'pop glass' - a strand of Scandinavian decorative glass that drew energy from the visual language of pop art and mass culture. Ström's pieces are typified by underfång (cased glass) layers in greens, yellows, cobalt blues, and cranberry reds over clear or white opal cores, built into cylindrical, spherical, or angular forms. The geometry is immediate and unambiguous, a deliberate contrast to the more elaborate cut and engraved work that dominated the Scandinavian market at the time.
Ström normally signed and dated his designs, which makes his output at Alsterfors traceable in a way that much of the factory's other production is not - most Alsterfors glass carried only a paper label rather than a signature. This has made his pieces more sought after by collectors focused on attributable Scandinavian glass from the period. His objects are held in museum and gallery collections internationally.
Alsterfors closed in 1980, ending a near-century of glassmaking in the village. On the Nordic secondary market, Ström's work circulates at a range of price points, reflecting the breadth of the market for mid-century Scandinavian glass. The 11 items in the Auctionist database span vases, bowls, and table lamps produced at Alsterfors, appearing at houses including Stockholms Auktionsverk Helsingborg, Gomér and Andersson in Jönköping, and Formstad Auktioner.