Normal Object Factory
Design and craft studio from Gustavsberg, Sweden
When we first saw the Swedish Normal Object Factory, we were immediately captivated by their beautiful glass objects in the form of individual designs combined with colorful and soft elements. It is no wonder that the high-quality dotted drinking glass named DOT is the trademark of Normal Object Factory.
The story behind Normal Object Factory
Normal Object Factory was founded in 2017 by glass artist Liu Chien-Kuang and ceramist Alexandra Nilasdotter, both with a bachelor's degree in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and Chien-Kuang with a master's degree from CRAFT, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design .
The design duo work from a studio in the old porcelain factory in Gustavsberg, Stockholm, Sweden. With inspiration from Swedish and Taiwanese design history, traditional craftsmanship and the meeting between these two cultures, Normal Object Factory works with different materials, such as glass, ceramics and wood. They create high-quality objects that are as functional as they are sculptural, with the aim of bringing traditional craftsmanship into the future: "We want to make products that are a child of our time (...): a functional object , a design product, all handcrafted, and yet just a normal object."
After studying in Taiwan, Denmark and Sweden, Liu Chien-Kuang has also worked abroad with glass artists and studios in Japan, Denmark, Sweden and China. Liu Chien-Kuang constantly aims to combine old techniques with new knowledge.
Alexandra Nilasdotter, on the other hand, is a ceramicist and product designer, and was educated in Sweden and Denmark. Her ceramic works, inspired by industrialism, architecture and minimalism, have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Europe and Asia. While she finds her drive in the technical and artistic, the sensitivity and strength of clay, simplicity and minimalism are key to her design approach.
The mouth-blown glass
The mouth-blown glasses are blown by the Normal Object Factory in Gustavsberg, Sweden. The creators say about the glass:
"This glass is the perfect meeting between the elegant and the playful, and works for all occasions. DOT is Normal Object Factory's signature glass and comes in many different colours.
All the colored dots are placed by hand on the clear glass body and they merge with the liquid hot glass before they are blown by mouth into the wooden form, molten glass is spinning and inflating. From fluent state till defining from each glass is unique and has its autonomous attitude to create the actual size of the drinking glass."
The glasses come in several different colors and are available as both water glasses and wine glasses.
A curated selection
Liu Chien-Kuang and Alexandra Nilasdotter have since then added a well-curated selection of products to their Normal Object Factory collection (just look at the Venn vase below, for example), and both designers complement each other in the finest way.
By bringing their knowledge, ideas and experience to life with the founding of Normal Object Factory, as well as by combining Swedish and Taiwanese craft traditions, the two designers are creating something new – a design they consider to be a kind of pure minimalism.
