Edvin Ollers
Edvin Ollers (1888–1959) was a Swedish artist, designer, and art educator, regarded as one of the early renewers of Swedish applied arts and glass design during the first half of the 20th century. His work covered a wide range of materials and disciplines, including glass, ceramics, pewter, silver, cast iron, illustration, bookbinding, and textiles. With a strong interest in historical Swedish forms and museum collections, Ollers developed a design language that combined tradition, craftsmanship, and a modern approach to everyday objects.
Biography
Edvin Ollers was born in Norrtälje in 1888 under the surname Olsson. He studied at the Higher School of Industrial Art in Stockholm between 1905 and 1909, and later at Valand Academy in Gothenburg between 1909 and 1910. Alongside his artistic practice, he worked as a drawing teacher and art educator, including at Östra Real and the Technical School in Stockholm.
Ollers became one of the first Swedish artists to work broadly within industrial design. He designed for several branches of the applied arts, producing glass, ceramics, metalwork, illustrations, bookbindings, and textile designs. His work often shows an interest in older Swedish traditions, but interpreted through a clearer and more functional design language suited to modern production.
His work in glass began in connection with the Home Exhibition at Liljevalchs in Stockholm in 1917, when the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design promoted the idea of “more beautiful everyday goods.” Ollers was sent to Kosta glassworks, where he designed a collection inspired by older glass forms. The collection became a success and helped establish him as an important figure in Swedish glass design.
During his career, Ollers worked for a number of Swedish glassworks, including Kosta, Reijmyre, Elme, Limmared, Alsterfors, Åfors, Ekenäs, and Flygsfors. His glass often included bowls, jugs, terrines, wine glasses, and decorative objects, frequently in green or blue-toned glass. He also worked with cut and engraved decoration, as well as art glass in overlay techniques.
In addition to glass, Ollers designed ceramics for Upsala-Ekeby, lighting for Elektriska AB Chr Bergh & Co, silver and pewter for Harald Linder in Uddevalla, and bookbindings for AB Nordiska Bokhandelns Bokbinderi. His many short engagements across different manufacturers gave him a broad and varied career, but a clear thread can still be seen in his refined sense of proportion, historical awareness, and interest in well-made objects for everyday use.
