ArtistSwedish
Ulla Winblad
0 active items
Ulla Winblad (1933-1992) was born in Helsingborg and received her first practical training through an internship at Jie-Keramik in Gantofta before completing her ceramic studies at Slojdforeningens Skola in Gothenburg. These formative years gave her a grounding in the handcraft traditions that would remain central to her approach throughout her career.
In 1958, she joined Alingsas Keramik in Alingsas as artistic director, a position with considerable responsibility: she oversaw a staff of around 50 people. Under her direction, the workshop produced handmade stoneware objects including vases, bowls, wall plaques, and floor lamps. Her work from this period is characterized by sgraffito decoration - a technique of carving through an engobe layer to reveal the clay body beneath - and by subjects drawn from nature, particularly birds and fish. Owl motifs appear with frequency in her signed wall reliefs. Her Alingsas pieces were signed 'U. Winblad' alongside the factory stamp.
In 1967, she emigrated to Seattle, Washington, where she established her own ceramic studio. Working independently, she expanded her range to include jewelry, raku-fired pieces, and miniature ceramics. Her studio attracted a following in the Pacific Northwest, and in 1982 King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden - visiting Seattle - purchased a set of her dinnerware. Her miniature ceramics were selected for the World Triennial Exhibition of Small Ceramics in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. The Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle acquired a substantial collection of her work for its permanent holdings, an institutional recognition that brought her wider attention in the United States than she had received in Sweden.
She died of breast cancer on 18 October 1992, a few days before her 59th birthday. At her own request, she was buried without a memorial service.
On the Nordic secondary market, Winblad's auction catalog is dominated by her Alingsas Keramik output. Our database records 14 items, all sold with no active listings remaining, spread across houses including Helsingborgs Auktionskammare and Hoganäs Auktionsverk. Recurring lots include floor lamps in glazed stoneware, wall reliefs with owl subjects, bowls, and vases. Prices are moderate, with the highest recorded sale at 2,450 SEK for a floor lamp and owl-themed wall reliefs reaching 300-500 SEK. Her pieces are collected primarily as examples of Swedish mid-century studio craft rather than as fine art, and the market reflects that positioning.