The Norwegian designer Cathrine Kullberg made her very first Norwegian Forest Lamp in 2007, made by natural or white ash and birch and assembled by hand from her studio workshop in Oslo. When sales volume increased, the license to produce and distribute her lamps was given to the lighting company Northern Lighting. Read more about the Norwegian Forest Lights.
Nordic romantically, “Norwegian forest” is a lamp made by hand following the Scandinavian tradition processing techniques. Thin strips of natural birch translucent or white ash, together with carvings are delicately laser-cut into forest motifs, then carefully bent to form a shade. The double layered 0,9 mm veneer was custom made for the collection. The shade is hand-sewn onto a white steel frame using natural leather string creating a rich pine forest and animals.
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By day, the fixture adds interest and a unique visual texture to any space. But at night, when lit from within, it’s pure magic: the entire shade takes on a warm glow, while points of bright light peek through the carved treetops.
The lamps have been sold in almost 30 countries and lighting many homes and public areas with its warm glow of light through the cut forest contours. In 2020, the lamp was included in the permanent collection of National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Trondheim (Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum), as well as in the Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.
According to the author of the book “The New Artisans – Handmade Design for Contemporary Living”,
it’s time to blow the dust off the term ‘artisans’. Oliver Dupon found 75 leading artisans from Europe, Australia and the USA, including Cathrine Kullberg. “Functional art” is the term Dupon prefers, whether the objects have a purely artistic purpose or are utility objects.
Related: Norwegian Designer Makes Traditionally Knitted Reading Lamps
Cathrine Kullberg was born in 1971 in Norway. She has a Master’s degree in Political Science and Esthetics from the University of Oslo and a Master’s degree in Design from the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London.
She went to work at the renowned Thomas Heatherwick Studio as a designer and project manager. Upon her return to Oslo, she worked as project leader at Norsk Form at the Norwegian Centre of Design and Architecture.
Norwegian Forest Lights, written by Tor Kjolberg