While my feet are once again planted on the soggy US East Coast, my heart remains in Sweden...where, for the record, it was also rainy and soggy. Happy New Year ArtLOOK readers. I hope the holidays were good to you.
I find myself taking the weekend here to recuperate from jet lag. Taking things slow and catching up on the 8 magazines that accumulated on my dining room table in my absence and some 2035 new blog posts...I've spent the rainy weekend relaxing and reading and reflecting on a lovely vacation.
I am nonetheless rested and recharged with a mindful of new ideas and ambitions for 2007. Scandinavia is renown for its design and I've brought home a good deal of inspiration.
I am convinced that there is nothing better than spending Christmas in Sweden. The city of Göteborg is lovely, friendly and light. The main avenue gets all dressed up in blue and white lights...it is a Christmas wonderland for so many reasons. After having celebrated the New Year in Göteborg, it was off to Stockholm for two days staying at the Nordic Sea Hotel, home of the Stockholm Ice Bar. Gamla Stan was enchanting and the warm Irish Coffees (yes I drank Irish coffee in Sweden) at the Foggy Dew Pub were outstanding! So happy were we at that little pub that we discovered we only had an hour to make it back to the Arlanda Airport (at least 45 minutes away with traffic) for the flight back to Göteborg. Not to worry...there was an Express Train. 30 minutes later we were on time for our flight.
Design in Scandinavia is everywhere...it's absolutely embedded in the culture and I believe inspiration must be in the water (I very much miss that water...arctic cold and pristine right from the tap, I must have drank a liter a day and after a hot shower dowsing yourself in that freezing cold liquid was sweet.) But in addition and in conjunction with design, Sweden also has bragging rights to some of the most beautiful glassware in the world. I visited a fair amount of malls and shops and the glassware is so beautiful I just wanted to lick it. 
According to Sweden.se ¨Swedish glass is celebrating triumphs of design despite perennial rumours of economic doom. It is bubbling with vitality, not only at the big-name glassworks, but also in the studios of individual glass artists.¨ The article further goes on to say ¨Just under a year ago, the Swedish government decided to do more to boost the future of Swedish glass, both during and after Sweden's Year of Design 2005, in the form of a special marketing effort. The most important player on the Swedish glass scene is Orrefors Kosta Boda, a company comprising four glassworks – Orrefors, Kosta, Boda and Åfors. Its leading designs are displayed under the brands of Orrefors and Kosta Boda. Both have design teams of around ten designers. Orrefors focuses on clear crystal while Kosta Boda mainly works with coloured glass.¨
Check out Orrefors, Kosta Boda, and Matti Klenell.
Having just experienced this fine glass art in Sweden, I believe I am prepared for my new assignment for INK Publications, which is to interview and write an article on the hand blown glass art of Jeffrey P'an of Prescient Studios in Stonington, CT. More to come...
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