As there were no formal classes today, we decided to spend the day with one of our classmates. Pernille is originally from Norway, and has been living in Sweden for a few years now. She attended The Glass School at Kosta Glascenter and is very familiar with Swedish glass, so she offered to take us on a little drive around the forest to visit glassworks. Very exciting!
The first glasswork we stop at had a giftshop, a small museum of Swedish glass and a hotshop. The two glassblowers (Christopher Ramsey and Fredrik Nielsen) invited us to sit and watch, as they were about to start blowing a 'Disco duck'.
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Starting work on a 'Disco Duck'
Last step -Puttin on the ducks head |
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Disco Ducks for sale in the shop
Other Ducks for sale. There were flocks of them!
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The second glass shop we visited was located in Åfors. Åfors Glassworks was built in 1876.
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| Ludvig Löfgren |
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| Olle Brozén |
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| Åsa Jungnelius |
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| Ludvig Löfgren |
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| Flower power by Ulrica Hydman-Vallien |
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| Bali vase by Kjell Engman |
Our third stop was Transjö Hytta. Started in 1982, it is the smallest blowing room in the Kingdom of Crystal. It is in an idyllic location right next to Lyckeby river. The atmosphere at Transjö is delightful and the surroundings beautiful. Unfortunately, the hotshop was closed the day we stopped by.
Our last stop of the day was Kosta. Kosta began operation in 1742, more than 250 years ago. This location has the largest blowing room in all of sweden. Furthermore, there is a massive sales outlet, Kosta Köpmanhus, which sells glass, home furnishings and other products, as well as Kosta Outlet, with 20,000 square metres of shopping space offering designer clothing, shoes, books, sporting goods and more. There are also multiple cafes, one of which we stopped at for lunch before starting our tour of the glassworks.
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| ”Hytta” (Blowing Room) |
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| Furnace |
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| Ceramic rings floating on the surface on the glass. The blowers gather from inside the rings, for better quality glass. |
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| A worker blowing into a graphite mold |
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| Kjell Engman |
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| Åsa Jungnelius |
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| Small section of the sales outlet |
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