Holmegaard Glass Factory
Encyclopedia
Holmegaard Glass Factory, or "Holmegaards Glasværk" as it is called in Danish, is a world famous glass company located in the village of Holmegaard
Holmegaard
Until January 1, 2007, Holmegaard was a municipality in Storstrøm County in the southern part of the island of Zealand in south Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 66 km², and had a total population of 7,442 . Its last mayor was Søren Dysted, a member of the Social Democrats ...

 just outside of Næstved. During the last couple of years a lot of new initiatives have been launched at Holmegaard Glasværk, and it is now a place for exploration for kids and adults of all ages. You'll be able to create your own piece of glass, and there are great savings in the shop, as well as a museum with some of the factory's most notable pieces.

On September 9, 2008, Holmegaard Glass Factory announced that unless a buyer was found within three months it would be closed due to bankruptcy. This threatened to bring an end to 183 years of glassmaking tradition, widely renowned in Denmark and abroad.

The crisis, however, was initially handled in a way that saw the exhibition centre close, whilst the glass production remained. In 2009 all production ceased.

History

The home of famous Holmegaard Glassworks products is located in Fensmark (part of Holmegaard). The company got its start in 1823 when Count Christian Danneskjold-Samsøe petitioned the Danish king for permission to build a glassworks at Holmegaard Mose ("Holmegaard Bog"). He died before permission was granted. But after his death when permission was finally received his widow, Countess Henriette Danneskjold-Samsøe pursued the project and began production in 1825 of green bottles, moving on to table-glass within its first decade.

Much of its early work was derivative and inconsequential, but between the 1930s and 1980s its fortunes were transformed by the designs of Jacob E. Bang (1899-1965), Per Lütken (1916-98), and Bang's son, Michael (1944-2002).

Today the company is known for its high-quality products of Danish design
Danish design
Danish Design is a term often used to describe a style of functionalistic design and architecture that was developed in mid-20th century. Influenced by the German Bauhaus school, many Danish designers used the new industrial technologies, combined with ideas of simplicity and functionalism to...

.

The Lütken Era

Danish glassmaker Per Lütken worked at Holmegaard from 1942 until his death in 1998, creating some of the factory's finest pieces and all-time classics, such as the "Idelle" series, the "Ships glasses" and the "Provence" bowls.

The work of Per Lütken is still highly rated, especially throughout Scandinavia, and in Denmark and Sweden in particular.

The arrival of Lütken at Holmegaard marked a new beginning in the history of the factory, which once again bloomed after several years of suffering. His aesthetic creations, in timeless designs, did fit the fashion of the 1960s Denmark, and his creations became a great success throughout the decade and the 1970s.

External links

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