Posts from the ‘Rorstrand’ Category

May 27

Rorstrand Sweden, "Party" - Marianne Westman - photos Ray Garrod

Rorstrand “Party” – Marianne Westman

Rorstrand “Party” – a design by Marianne Westman for Rorstrand Sweden, c1950s.

This is just so beautiful! I love the muted colour scheme of soft grey and a mustard yellow on this design of stylised abstracted tulips. The attention to detail is lovely too – with the hand painted tiny black stems at the base of each flower. It is a design I had never seen before until very recently.

It probably dates to the mid 1950’s, although I haven’t been able to find any verified information about the design. The design is on the same forms as “Mon Amie” and many other Westman designs of this period. Large generous cups are a feature of this series of forms too. A joy to look at.

Rorstrand Sweden, “Party” – Marianne Westman – photos Ray Garrod

Oct 7

Rorstrand “Palett”

Rorstrand “Palett” is an impressive and bold design, which appears to be from the late 1960s or early to mid 1970’s, but sadly its designer is not known. It has elements in the design that many of the designers at Rorstand during this period used.

The design features hand painted bands in warm ochre hues with a blue circle as the centre of the design on most forms. There appear to be some variations on this theme – but at this stage I’m not sure if they are Palett or other named designs so will leave that idea alone for now.

It seems a hard design to find, and there are not a lot of images of it online, and they consist mostly of plates or bowls, but I did manage to find a photo of a cup that was for sale below.

It is also a difficult word to search for also, as even in quotation marks “Palett” changes to other spellings on search engines. If anyone comes across the designer listed in some archive, book or other publication I would love to know.

Rorstand Palett – Photo Ray Garrod

Rorstand Palett Backstamp

Sep 29

Rorstrand Blue Fire – Hertha Bengtson

Hertha Bengtson designed “Blue Fire” for Rorstrand Sweden in 1949, and it was in production from 1951-1971. It became a hugely popular design both in Sweden and internationally with its sweeping and bold biomorphic forms, and intense blue glaze.

It was the first major dinner service designed by Hertha, who unlike many of her peers had a strong interest in the design of dinnerware.

It is a slip cast earthenware porcelain with a subtle and quite beautiful moulded herringbone pattern which isn’t always apparent at first glance.

Some pieces of the dinnerware are in bright white, contrasting with the intense blue of the other forms. It was also released with a deep red coloured glaze. I have read that it was also released in a grey and a green – but haven’t been able to find any record of those colours.