Blue signed Landberg 1950s Orrefors sommerso vase

This Nils Landberg design is the sort of simple piece which is still being made and sold by other manufacturers. You might find something similar from China in a gift shop, for example. The reasons ours is better, in my view, are:

1. It's handmade - mouth-blown, not made by a machine. From the 1960s onwards, machines started to replace craftsmen.  The machines could make a piece similar to this - and make them faster, cheaper, and in greater volumes.  This made pretty vases more affordable for everyone but they were thinner and more regular and simply not as good. It's like the difference between an original painting and a print of the same thing.  Broadly speaking, one is collectable, the other is not.  (There are some machine-made pieces that are or will be collectable, but that's a subject for another discussion.)  Glassmaking craftsmanship survived this challenge, and the combination of craft and art is is now recognised as art and in it's modern form is generally much more expensive than its vintage equivalent.

2. It's signed. Orrefors recognised that they needed to brand this vase in a way that distinguished their quality pieces from other, inferior art glass, and therefore engraved the company name and a designer and model reference on the base.

3. It was made 50 years ago, back when Scandinavian designers first started saying "what if we made some really simple coloured vases encased in clear glass?" It's the original.

4. Despite being made 50 years ago, it still looks good to modern eyes, (as do so many of these modernist designs). It's a classic design, with real staying power.

Height: 14.5 cm (5.75 inches)
Width: 6.5 cm
Weight: 550 g
Engraved "Orrefors Nu 3736" (?) to the base, labelled "ORREFORS SWEDEN" (also sticker from previous owner underneath the base)
Condition: expected wear to the base and label, a two cm scratch to the interior, five scratches to the exterior (longest 1 cm), some small scuffs and scratches elsewhere

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Our Reference: 2743

This item has sold for US $90.00

We only sell beautiful glass