Gustavsberg History

Gustavsberg has manufactured porcelain since 1825.

However, the Gustavsberg history originates from the 1600s, when Gustav Gabrielsson Oxenstierna and his wife, Maria de la Gardie, founded a brickyard in Farsta bay. In memory of Oxenstierna, Farsta bay later came to change its name to Gustavsberg. Though it was not until 1825 that Gustavsberg became known for its manufacturing of porcelain.

The 200-year-old brickworks is closed, and in 1825, the owner is granted by the National Board of Trade an authorisation to “establish and operate a factory for miscellaneous porcelain”.

Around the middle of the 1800s, Gustavsberg starts to manufacture its own products in the English style, and to mark the change, the now-familiar anchor stamp is introduced in 1839.

For more than 100 years, Gustavsberg primarily concentrates on making household porcelain and decorative items.  Most noteworthy from the artistic production were the Majolica and Parian objects.

Lisa Larson 

Lisa Larson, born 1931, is a Swedish ceramic designer who started at Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory in 1953. She was hired by the famous Stig Lindberg who recognized and nurtured her gift for design. The Mid – Century modernist touch is apparent in many of her works. In 1981 she left Gustavsberg to work freelance as a sculptural artist and designer for various Swedish companies and the German porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal. She did stints at various ceramic companies including Duka, Kooperativa Förbundet and Åhléns .

During this time she created several hundred different designs – many of which became design classics, sought after by antique dealers and private collectors. Lisa Larson is best known for her humorous and friendly figures, generous shapes and artfully drawn incised decoration. Even though she created appealing ceramic wares, her talent for the charming characterisation of domestic and exotic animals in her ceramic figurines and sculptures became the most popular.

In 1992 she founded the Gustavsberg Ceramic Studio with her colleagues Franco Nicolosi and Siv Solin. Their ceramics are produced on a small scale by a team of master craftsmen and women who continue the traditional crafts of mould making, glazing and hand painting. Lisa Larson is still actively working on creating and producing new ceramic designs, while her body of work is being discovered and rediscovered by many outside of Sweden.