“I’ve always been very interested in design, interiors and furniture. My father was a carpenter who made furniture, and he created a lot of the pieces in our home. As a little girl, I always knew there was something special and unique about that. My father later started working with the Museum of Decorative Art in West Norway, and I was able to come along to see the different exhibitions that were being put on. I was so fascinated with the art and design I saw, and really enjoyed seeing the different things people would make,” Sigrid says.

Sigrid’s dream was initially to become a fashion designer, but at the age of 19, she realised that she wanted to work with glass. She’d been very fascinated by a glassblower she saw as a child, and a chance encounter with a professional glassblower at the age of 19 lit a spark within her. She applied to a year-long glass blowing course at a Danish art school.

“I love glassblowing. I find it quite meditative, and glass can create such a clean, beautiful expression. Blowing glass is very intensive – you can’t lose focus for a second or it might be ruined. It’s a challenging, rewarding material to work with, and I’m constantly developing my skills,” Sigrid says.

After being accepted to art school in Denmark, Sigrid was trained as a glassblower and took on a 3-year apprenticeship. Since then, she’s developed her craft.

“Getting started with glassblowing was a challenging, steep learning curve, and I loved it. I learned that there was a lot you could do with glass that I didn’t realise was possible – I found that almost anything is possible as long as you have the techniques and the tools necessary,” Sigrid says.

She has now been working with glassblowing for 12 years, and last year, she achieved her long-standing dream of opening up her own workshop.

“I had the incredible opportunity to open my own workshop last summer. It’s been amazing so far – it took a long time to plan, but it was definitely worth it. It’s gone surprisingly well considering the pandemic. I’ve been fortunate to have quite a few assignments from local businesses, private people, restaurants, etc,” Sigrid says.

She was recently commissioned to create 120 custom plates for the Michelin-starred Bare Restaurant in Bergen.

“That was huge for me, being contacted by them – and it was a big, challenging job. I created three new plates in collaboration with them which was really fun. And then I went there for dinner, and being able to eat off plates I created at a Michelin-starred restaurant was a great experience. And the food was fantastic!”

Sigrid makes a range of different items for homeware and interior decoration, including glasses, bowls, plates, lamps and much more. At the moment, she’s specialising in vases.

“I really enjoy making vases because I find it fun to work with different sizes and challenging myself – larger items can be more difficult to handle when glassblowing. I really love the way these pieces can function both as traditional vases but also work independently as a sculpture. They’re beautiful in themselves and can stand alone without flowers, but also work well with flowers in them. The pieces challenge the idea that a vase must be used for the typical bouquet of roses – the person who buys my vases could add a twig or a branch, a single flower, or a full bouquet depending on their preferences. I love the idea that people can be inspired and create their own expression with my pieces,” Sigrid says.

Sigrid is happy to be able to make a living doing what she loves.

She says, “Being self-employed is fantastic – is a lot of work, but it’s a fun job. Glassblowing is my hobby and my job at the same time. I spend a lot of time on it, and I want to spend a lot of time on it. It’s a joy getting up in the morning, and I wake up every day excited to go to work!”

Sigrid’s work is both creative and technical in nature. She finds inspiration in a number of different things, and creates pieces that speak to her aesthetic sensibilities.

“I’m really interested in interior and design in general – clothes, furniture, etc. I love the minimalistic nature of Scandinavian designs, and I also enjoy the simple but expressive style of Japanese interior and design. At the same time, I love colours and playing around with different colour combinations. I also spend a lot of time outdoors and take a lot of inspiration from nature,” Sigrid says. “I also get inspired by the material itself – the liquid glass. It’s such an exciting material to work with, something about the light in it and the way it behaves – it’s alive. I love to create clean lines but I also want my works to retain some of the dynamic quality of the liquid glass. The soft, liquid glass hardens but retains waves and imploded shapes that tell a story.”