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The Northerner Head Office
Mobelgatan 4
43133 Molndal, Sweden
Northerner has company number 556559-1699 in Sweden
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Kosta Boda Glassworks
History
Kosta, the parent glassworks of Kosta Boda and the oldest glassworks in Sweden that is still in operation, has a fascinating history that forms a valuable part of our Swedish cultural heritage. The glassworks was founded in 1742 by the governors of the counties of Kronoberg and Kalmar, Anders Koskull and Georg Bogislaus Stael von Holstein, both former generals in the army of Karl XII and distinguished veterans of the battle of Narva, among others.
The two county governors founded the glassworks upon the instructions of Fredrik I, and modeled it on continental glassworks. The works was situated deep in the spruce forests of Småland, on a site midway between the two country towns, and near a village that was then known as Dåfvedshult. The main reason for choosing this location was the unlimited availability of wood. Enormous quantities of wood were naturally required to keep the glassmaking furnaces burning day and night. Both of the founders wanted their names to be remembered, so the works was christened Kosta, from the initial letters of the surnames of both the Carolinian generals, Ko-Sta. After a time the entire community was renamed after the growing glassworks.
During the first 150 years the glassworks in Kosta only produced utility glass, including window glass for the building of Tessin’s Royal Palace, bottles and glass for the royal household and chandeliers for churches. The first glassblowers were immigrant glass masters from Böhmen. They became the founding fathers of the glassblowing families, which passed down craft skills from generation to generation. Swedish sand was used to manufacture crystal glass, but nowadays pure silica sand is imported from Belgium, since the Swedish sand contains iron oxide that gives the glass a green tinge.
Under the management of glass masters from Kosta a succession of glassworks sprang up in the forests of Småland in the regions around Växjö and Kalmar. Kosta therefore has good reason to call itself the parent works of the entire Swedish Kingdom of Crystal.
Until the end of the nineteenth century the glass from Kosta was designed by the glassblowers themselves. At the Stockholm exhibition in 1897 the glassworks was criticized for the uniformity of its glass, which led to the idea of enlisting designers and artists in production. The first designer to be employed by Kosta was Gunnar G:son Wennerberg. The year was 1898. Ever since then a large number of artists and designers have enriched the glassmaking tradition of the works with their artistic talents. Today, Kosta Boda has a unique right to describe itself as an art industry, in which designers and craftsmen work closely together in the ongoing development of handmade utility glass and art glass. This diversity of individual artistic expression and the free and uninhibited creative process have become the distinguishing characteristics of the Kosta Boda brand.
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