John Selbing

Involuntarily John Selbing became Orrefors' own photographer. He was taken on as a draughtsman by Simon Gate in 1927, with the aim of becoming a glass designer. But early in the 1930s Orrefors ran into financial difficulties and Selbing was asked whether he could become the company photographer. They could no longer afford to use external photographers. Afraid of losing his job at Orrefors Selbing accepted the offer. Selbing was not a traditional commercial photographer. He had an artistic approach and artistic ambitions as a photographer. The management recognized this and gave him a great deal of independence in his work. He experimented both playfully and seriously, in and beyond the studio looking for suitable backdrops in nature and in the factory, as well as trying out new lighting. Selbing is the most interesting photographer of glass in Sweden and he was operative at a time when Orrefors was expanding, in due course becoming a world-famous company. In 1973, after 46 years at Orrefors, he left the company, taking nothing with him. His studio remained unaltered for many years and he left behind him a large archive that contained an unknown quantity of negatives. With the publication of this book, John Selbing finally receives the attention that his work richly deserves.