The glassworks in Kosta was founded in 1742. The name was created from the surnames of the founders, Generals Koskull and Staël von Holstein. Kosta’s location, in the heart of the dense forests in the Swedish province of Småland, was chosen so that the glassworks could provide both Stockholm and Karlskrona with glass. Important roads crossed here, and there was also an unlimited supply of wood to heat the furnaces. Fine utility glassware was made here during the first 150 years of the company’s existence and comprised products such as window panes, bottles and drink ware, but also glass chandeliers and similar items. The customers included royalty, nobility and wealthy merchants who could afford the costly glassware. For a long time, the glassblowers came from Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic. Many decades passed before Swedes learnt how to blow glass. Kosta exhibited its products at the General Art and Industrial Exposition of Stockholm in 1897, but was criticized because its glassware mostly resembled items made in other parts of Europe. This gave the company the idea of employing its own designers. The idea rapidly gained ground and remains the actual foundation of the way in which ...