Carl Harry Stålhane and Stig Lindberg

Carl-Harry Stålhane was a prominent Swedish ceramist of international acclaim for the unique hand-built stoneware and industrial tableware that he produced throughout the 20th century. Stålhane enjoyed a 40-year career at Rörstrand ceramics and established his own workshop, Designhuset, where he created experimental ceramics from 1973 onwards. 

Stålhane was born in Mariestad, Sweden in 1920. He was in the employ of Rörstrand from the age of 19 as a painter of ceramic works, taking a brief hiatus from 1943 to 1946 and again from 1947 to 1948 to study painting and sculpture at the Art School of Grünewald in Stockholm and at the Académie Colarossi in Paris.  

Stålhane initially worked under the supervision of expressionist painter Isaac Grünewald, and later the two artists worked in collaboration. Their collaborative efforts were so successful that Stålhane and Grünewald were invited to exhibit their ceramics at the Swedish National Museum. By the age of 30, Stålhane was a master ceramist, and in 1953 he was appointed art director and chief designer for Rörstrand, succeeding important mid-century ceramist Gunnar Nylund. 

Stålhane's earlier works are characterized by elegant and slender, symmetrical forms in monochrome or matte glazes in a style that embraced Chinese Sung ceramic art traditions. In the 1960s, Stålhane's body of work consisted of heavier, rough-hewn works of impressive scale with thickly poured glazes, resultant of his experimentations with different local clays, colors, and glazing techniques. Throughout his career, Stålhane relied heavily on drawing in order to draft the overall design for his forms. Stålhane personally executed all of his unique hand-built forms and applied all of the decorative motifs by hand. 

In 1973, Stålhane left Rörstrand to open his own studio, Designhuset, alongside master thrower Kent Ericsson.  During this time, he continued to work with ceramics, however he returned to Chinese and Japanese traditions. 

Stig Lindberg (1916-1982) was a Swedish craftsman active during the "Golden Age" of the Swedish industrial arts. Throughout his career, Lindberg was engaged in a multitude of industrial and personal projects across various media including plastic, clay, and paper. He is well known for his table services, which include the Berså, Spisa Ribb and Terma lines for Gustavsberg. He also designed art glass for Kosta Boda and Holmegaard and textiles for Nordiska Kompaniet.

Stig Lindberg was born in 1916 in Umeå, a seaport town in Northern Sweden. He was the pupil, protégée and eventual successor of Wilhelm Kåge, who was the design director for Gustavsberg Potteries from 1937 to 1940. Lindberg continued to work for Gustavsberg through 1980 and served as its director from 1949-59 and 1972-78.

Initially working under Kåge as a faience painter, Lindberg was eventually permitted to explore different media and techniques while at Gustavsberg. It was the objective of Gustavsberg that their industrial products should exhibit integrated functionalism and artistry; designers like Lindberg were encouraged to experiment across numerous media, forms, and colors to achieve this balance.

Lindberg proved a highly adaptable craftsman, and his output included high-quality stoneware and plastic household articles; Lindberg was also responsible for much of the graphic art used in Gustavsberg's advertising. Personal projects included the illustration of children's books and experimental stoneware. Many of Lindberg's works exhibit an undeniable merging of his individual style of craft with industrial techniques.