Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Ulrica Hydman-Vallien – born in Stockholm, a long time ago –
Konstfack for 4 years – 2 years in the U.S. straight after that,
together with Bertil who brought me to the Kingdom of Crystal.
My style is what it is because I do what I want to do.
Or, I do what I feel I’d like to do and have stayed faithful to what I want to
do and expressed myself rather dramatically.
I’m very… I like the line, the black line, the black
in the painted glass. I pursued painted glass very quickly
because there used to be a glass painting workshop where I had my ceramics studio.
All the fantastic colours were there, so it came natural.
Erik Rosell, who was then the director of Kosta Boda,
wanted me to do something romantic because I was a woman and apparently he didn’t
think Bertil could do that and I’m not a very romantic type of person
I’m rather direct and somewhat blunt and rather forceful in what I do,
but I did it for him. Lucky for me, because then he said “Now
you can do whatever you like” and so I did.
That’s when I did the exciting Rat Bowl which put me on the map.
Then I had the courage to do what I was supposed to.
It was a good start.
My idea with Mine was that it was supposed to be
the only glass you need. A thick, forceful, fantastic, good, useable
glass with a clear message. Then I put the snake in the bottom
and UHV. Because I knew it would be very easy to copy
otherwise and when I thought it through I wanted it
to be a Ulrica Hydman Vallien glass, everyone should know where it came from.
As the years go by I think about my mission in this company a lot
I guess. But I want to solve that mission in my own
personal way and that’s the whole idea behind Kosta Boda
in my opinion. There’s room for artistic freedom.
The artists at Kosta Boda right now are strong clear individuals
and I’ve had the freedom to be who I want to be, who I can be, who I want to be
because I’ve understood the mission so to speak.
The Kosta Boda brand means freedom, imagination,
possibilities, qualities, cooperation. An ongoing creative process.
The craftsmen are most important. I’m only part of the whole,
a starter-upper of a product. I have an idea, put it on paper, present it
to the product development apparatus. Then I go straight down to the craftsmen in
the works to blow samples
and try and form and often to the paint shop or an engraver,
or someone who blasts a pattern. There are many different very skilled and
essential craftsmen. I’m the starter-upper of something that
becomes something for everyone to make.
The reason my creations are appreciated is that they’re easy to recognise I think.
I also think it’s important to know who created the things you like
and want to give away or have at home and then buy.
I do believe people know what I’ve created and that makes those items more fun to buy
and to me it’s… I guess you could say I’m a master of many trades.
My own personal favourites vary with time but I have a few favourites I still like
and those are the commercially successful Caramba and Open Minds series
because they’re so suggestive in a way and they still live their own lives since
1986.