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Simon Gate
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When Simon Gate arrived at Orrefors Glasbruk in 1916, the factory in the Småland forests was producing utilitarian window glass and simple tableware. Within a decade, his work there had helped transform it into one of the most celebrated glass houses in the world. Born on 18 May 1883 in Södra Fågelås, Skaraborg, Gate trained as a painter at the National College of Art, Craft, and Design (Konstfack) and later at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. He had no experience designing three-dimensional objects when Orrefors recruited him, a fact that may have worked to his advantage; unbound by glassmaking conventions, he brought a painter's eye for composition and narrative to a medium that had been dominated by technical craft.
Gate's early years at Orrefors were spent learning the material alongside master glassblower Knut Bergqvist. Their collaboration proved transformative. Around 1916 to 1920, Gate, Bergqvist, and fellow designer Edward Hald developed the Graal technique, a process in which coloured glass is encased within a clear crystal body. A thick core of coloured glass would be cut, etched, or layered with designs, then heated and encased in transparent crystal before being blown into its final shape. The result was imagery suspended within the glass itself, as if frozen in ice. The technique demanded extraordinary coordination between designer and blower, and it became Orrefors's signature.
Gate's engraved glass was equally significant. His large ceremonial bowls and vases featured elaborate figurative compositions, often drawn from classical mythology and Swedish folk traditions. The engraving work was executed by skilled craftsmen such as Arthur Diessner and Karl Rössler, working from Gate's drawings. These pieces were monumental in ambition, treating glass as a surface for narrative art rather than mere decoration. His "Bacchus" bowls and "Triton" vases exemplified this approach, combining technical virtuosity with visual storytelling.
The international breakthrough came at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, where Gate and Hald received the Grand Prix. Their work became synonymous with "Swedish Grace," the distinctly Scandinavian interpretation of Art Deco that emphasised elegance and restraint over the more ornate Continental style. Gate's glass was sought after by museums and collectors worldwide. His work entered the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, among others. He also competed in the art competitions at the 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics.
Gate remained at Orrefors for nearly thirty years, a remarkably long creative partnership with a single manufacturer. He continued to develop new forms and techniques throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, including refined engraved tableware like the "Salut" and "Windsor" champagne glasses that remain collectible today. He died suddenly on 27 May 1945 at the age of sixty-two.
At auction, Gate's glass appears frequently across Swedish houses including Formstad Auktioner, Stockholms Auktionsverk, Helsingborgs Auktionskammare, and Bukowskis. His Graal pieces and large engraved bowls command the highest prices, with top results around 7,500 SEK. The "Salut" champagne glasses and other tableware lines trade consistently. With nearly 200 items on Auctionist, Gate's work represents one of the most actively collected categories in Swedish glass, anchored by Orrefors's enduring reputation.