Holmegaard Glass Factory
History
Holmegaard Glass Factory is located in the town of Fensmark, Holmegaard. The company was founded in 1823 after Count Christian Conrad Sophus Danneskiold-Samsøe petitioned the Danish king for permission to build a glass factory at Holmegaard Mose (lit. 'Holmegaard Bog'). He died before permission was granted. But after his death when permission was finally received his widow, Countess Henriette Danneskiold-Samsøe pursued the project, and the factory began producing green bottles in 1825, moving on to table-glass within its first decade.
Much of its early work was derivative and inconsequential, but between the 1930s and the 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.
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 regarded, especially throughout Scandinavia, and in Denmark and Sweden in particular.
The arrival of Lütken at Holmegaard marked a new beginning in the factory's history, which once again bloomed after several years of suffering. His aesthetic creations, in timeless designs, appealed to the fashion of 1960s Denmark, and his creations became a commercial success throughout the decade and the 1970s.
The split
In 1995, the packaging part was sold to Ardagh which is now called Ardagh Glass Holmegaard, the art part was then sold in 2004 to the development company Ibco, which wanted to turn the place into an experience centre Holmegaard Entertainment.
Later
On 9 September 2008, it went bankrupt, and the Holmegaard brand was taken over by Rosendahl A/S. The old glassworks building in Holmegaard was put up for auction in March 2010, and was taken over by Danish Sparekassen Faaborg.
Now
In 2020, the place reopened under the name Holmegaard Værk. It is a museum exhibiting 40,000 Holmegaard products in its collection, and some of the most famous can be seen up close. In addition, various glass artists demonstrate how to work with glass.
Notable glassmakers at Holmegaard
References
- Municipal statistics: NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
- Municipal mergers and neighbors: Eniro new municipalities map