Stig Lindberg (1916–1982) was one of Sweden’s most important postwar designers and was working with ceramics, glass, textile, illustrations, paintings as well as industrial design. Read more about one of Sweden’s most prolific designers.
Stig Lindberg was active in a period in which segmentation and specialization within the design profession was less developed. His work can therefore be found in a variety of materials, from melamine to textiles and enameled steel, but also in a variety of forms, from ceramics to book illustrations and public fountains.
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Before a wood-cutting accident in his northern Swedish home, changed his mind the young Lindberg seriously considered a piano career, but after the incident he concentrated on drawing and studied with Helmer Osslund, a local artist.
It is said that a young Stig Lindberg on a June day in 1937 appeared at the porcelain factory in Gustavsberg outside Stockholm to ask for a summer job. The factory did not go well, and since the boss could not even promise him a position as a summer trainee, Lindberg said: “If you hire me, I will make sure there will be enough to do at the factory.”
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Gustavsberg, a three hundred years old factory at that time had just (1937) been sold to KF (Kooperativa Förbundet) The strongly socialist inspired cooperative culture was both instrumental in changing the status of designers by allowing Wilhelm Kåge to introduce the “studio” system, as well as in encouraging the young Stig Lindberg in studying in Paris and in Denmark.
During a long career with the Gustavsberg pottery factory, Lindberg created whimsical studio ceramics and graceful tableware lines. Stig Lindberg studied painting at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. In 1937, he went to work at Gustavsberg under Wilhelm Kåge. In 1949, he was named Kåge’s successor as art director. From this period until he left Gustavsberg in 1980, he designed individual ceramic items, as well as factory produced ranges and lines of dinnerware. He achieved fame for his eccentric forms and whimsical decoration.
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Lindberg’s design patterns characterized the Swedish folk home from 1940 to 1980 with, for example Adam, cup-ware with the dot pattern or Prunus with blue plums, or Berså with stylized green leaves. In the 2000s, several of the series were put into production again.
Stig Lundberg also designed faience, textiles, public art, graphic design, industrial design and enamel art. He died from a myocardial infarction in 1982.
One of Sweden’s Most Prolific Designers, written by Tor Kjolberg