Vase ‘Fish Graal’ signed 'Orrefors graal no 116 D'

By Edward Hald

Sweden, c. 1950s

The Graal glass technique was invented at Orrefors Glasbruk in Sweden in 1916. In simple terms, the glassmakers create a piece with different coloured layers of glass, allow it to cool, then cut a design in one of the coloured layers to create a pattern.

Edward Hald (1883 - 1980) began working Orrefors in 1917. After studying in Leipzig, he completed his artistic training with Henri Matisse in Paris. The famous Graal glass is his first masterpiece, which he developed together with Simon Gate and Knut Bergqvist. In the 1920s, his work coined the term 'Swedish grace', the Swedish variant of Art Deco.