Gunnar Cyrén’s Pop glass launched at Svenskt Tenn

Gunnar Cyrén’s iconic Pop glasses from 1967 will be relaunched on January 13. The glasses come in three different colour schemes and are hand-blown by brothers Stefan and Mikael Erlandsson at the Ulven glassworks outside Uppsala, Sweden. The Pop glasses will be sold at Svenskt Tenn’s store on Strandvägen 5, Stockholm and online at svenskttenn.com

Gunnar Cyrén (1931–2013) is one of Sweden’s most recognised glass artists of all time, as well as a silversmith and industrial designer, educated at what is today Stockholm’s Konstfack - University of Art, Crafts and Design. Orrefors glassworks hired Cyrén in 1959 and ten years later he became its artistic director. Among Cyrén’s major work for Orrefors are the Pop glasses from the 1960s, which are now back in production.

“I made the Pop glass in lots of variations – I don’t know, it could have been a hundred variations of colour on the stem. But I know that I looked at aquarium fish because they have such surprising colour combinations. I travelled to Copenhagen to look at aquarium fish. They are stylish even though they clash with all the colour rules. It was a good source to draw upon.” (Gunnar Cyrén: www.gunnarcyren.se)

When the glassblowers in Orrefors produced the first Pop glasses in the mid-1960s, it was with the same age-old handicraft methods that were used when the first glassworks were built in Sweden in the 1500s – a handicraft tradition that is still used today. Now it is the master glassblowing brothers Stefan and Mikael Erlandsson who, with 30 years of experience from the “Kingdom of Crystal” in Småland, are blowing the Pop glasses at their Ulven glassworks outside Uppsala. Gunnar Cyrén’s three sons Mårten, Gustav and Henrik, have taken the initiative to put the glasses back into production.

“The three of us are so proud that our dad’s colourful and boldly designed glasses are being produced again. The Pop glass design fits well with the prevailing aesthetics both in Sweden and the rest of the world – proof that Gunnar Cyrén created a classic design nearly 40 years ago. It feels especially good having them launched at Svenskt Tenn. That is something he would have been proud of,” says Mårten Cyrén.

Gunnar Cyrén left his role as artistic director at Orrefors in 1970 to start his own company as a silversmith, glass artist and industrial designer. He founded his own silversmithing studio in his hometown of Gävle and continued to do freelance work for Orrefors. In 1991 he designed the glassworks’ bestselling Nobel glasses in addition to the cutlery for the Nobel Prize banquet.

"The Pop glasses, with their bold colours and handcrafted production fit well with the rest of the Svenskt Tenn range and we are pleased to have been entrusted to sell Gunnar Cyrén’s design classics now that they are back in production again,” says Thommy Bindefeld, Marketing and Creative Director at Svenskt Tenn.