CARE OVER DETAIL RENDERS SIMPLICITY BEAUTIFUL

Erika Lagerbielke is one of Sweden’s most well-known designers and glass artists. Her designs and glass art are known and appreciated all over the world. She is founder and co-owner, with Tomas Åhlman, of independent design company Erika Lagerbielke & Co AB, where she acts as creative director.

Lagerbielke’s design concentrates on innovation and function with strong artistic expression. She has been creating award winning glass designs for Orrefors since 1982, where she has specialized in stemware and products to enhance the meal experience. Among her well known and popular designs are design classic Intermezzo, wine glass series Merlot, Metropol, More, and connoisseur wine glass Difference.

Lagerbielke has had numerous solo exhibitions internationally. Her glass art is characterized by her interest in creating impressions with light, colour and transparency and is acknowledged for its deep and sensitive relation to the classic glass crafts as well as contemporary innovations. In 2022 she created her concept “A blue planet” with art-pieces discussing the significance of water, both as artistic inspiration but also from a naturalistic point of view.

Erika Lagerbielke works with unique design commissions such as a Bishop’s crozier for the diocese of Växjö, the Rector’s regalia for Linnaeus University and the official wedding gift for the Swedish Crown Princess couple Victoria and Daniel, a gift from the Swedish Parliament and Government. Her work is both secular and liturgical. Recently she has created a baptism bowl for the baroque font at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, UK, and in 2023 two pieces for the apse in the Romanesque crypt in the Cathedral of Lund; the stained-glass window Hope and a relief, The Well, for the altar.

She has created several prize sculptures and trophies, for instance Volvo Environmental Prize, Volvo China Open and Bullen Awards.

Since 2005 Erika Lagerbielke is professor in design at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden. Her research interests are Artistic research in the field of glass art, The cultural heritage of glass in Sweden, The artefacts of the meal, regarding the importance of the design of artefacts for the meal experience and the sensory experience of wine and Sustainable glass. Recent paper: Lagerbielke Erika, Aspects on the development of Swedish glass manufacturing An overview 1500-1915, Journal of Glass Studies, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, USA. ISSN 0075–4250, Vol. 63, s. 303–320.

In 2010, she was awarded by H. M. The King of Sweden with the Prince Eugen Medal for outstanding artistic achievement. In 2014, she was awarded the S: t Erik’s medal by the City of Stockholm.

She is a member of several associations dealing with design, culinary arts, and intellectual property.