Kulturista - Cultural Experiences in West Sweden

C U LT U R E E X P E R I E N C E S I N W E S T S W E D E N 16 Swedish homes. Rörstrand is Europe’s second oldest porcelain brand, and has influenced how the world sees Swedish design ever since it was founded in 1726. L E T Y O U R C R E AT I V I T Y F L O W AT R Ö R S T R A N D C E N T E R In the centre of Lidköping you’ll find Rörstrand Center – a creative hotspot with a pottery school, museum, design shops, restaurant and café. A tour of Rörstrands Museum will guide you through 290 years of porcelain manufacture in Sweden. You’ll learn how the ‘white gold’ was produced in Europe’s oldest porcelain facto- ries, and be inspired by the everyday items as well as the sump- tuous decorative pieces. Don’t miss the ‘Skaparverkstaden’ (Crea- tor’s Studio), where you can have a go at turning and sculpting clay, or painting your own cup. Rörstrand’s classic industrial buil- ding also contains ‘Formakademin’ (the Form Academy), a know- ledge centre where tomorrow’s potters, design modellers and pat- tern designers are trained. Not only is there a café on almost every block, in Lidköping, art and design are natural parts of the townscape. When the pede- strianized main street was upgraded in 2011, the locals got to leave their own mark on their town by creating paintings that were transferred to tiles, which were set in the streets. And at the town square, which by the way is the largest open square in nort- hern Europe, you can see porcelain in the form of artworks by designer Anna Elzer Oscarson and artist Astrid Sylwan. P O R C E L A I N F O R T H E N O B E L B A N Q U E T A N D C O MM O N E R S A L I K E Many Swedes associate Rörstrand porcelain with memories of coffee breaks on sunny days at their grandparents’ place. The din- nerware made for the mass market as well as the most exclusive ranges have a given place in Swedish design history. Marianne Westman’s series Mon Amie, with its intense blue floral decor, and Swedish Grace by Louise Adelborg, with its subtle pattern of ears of wheat, are two examples that have achieved cult status in Lidköping for lovers of porcelain and architecture Swedish design is famous for clean lines, often with inspiration from nature. A perfect example of this is ‘Naturum Victoriahuset’, a building next to Läckö Castle and the south shore of Lake Vänern, and not far from Lidköping. And in the picturesque Lidköping town centre you can learn the history of Rörstrand’s porcelain. With its timeless style it has won the hearts of the Swedish people. T E X T J O H A N T Ö R N R O T H