Bertil Vallien, born in 1938 was educated at Konstfack, the National College of Arts, Crafts and Design, in Stockholm and after that he went to the USA and Mexico. When he came back to Sweden 1963, he started to work at Åfors glassworks and has been there since then. He married Ulrica Hydman-Vallien the same year.
Since the 60’s Mr. Vallien has been one of the most influential and famous Swedish designers. He has affected the esthetic expression and brought new ideas to the production. In the 1980’s he introduced the concept Artist Collection, which gives the opportunity to mass-produce glassware and at the same time give every piece a unique touch by the artist.
Bertil Vallien works with a mysterious, dreaming and symbolic world of motives. He is famous as the master of sand casting. His massive, deep blue colored Boats is part of the modern glass history. Bertil Vallien has also designed the famous Château collection. It is the most sold handmade glass dinnerware in the world. He wanted to create a series that could only be made by hand. The glass with the twisted shape, which started out as a mistake, became one of the most loved glasses in the Kosta Boda history. Other well-known collections made by Bertil Vallien are Schaman, Dreams and Brains.
Mr. Vallien’s creations are well known and are represented in many museums over the world, for example:
- Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
- Corning Museum of Glass, New York, USA
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
- Smålands Museum, Växjö, Sweden
- Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
- Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany