Holmegaard - Royal glass from Denmark
After the loss of Norway in 1814, there was no longer any glass production in Denmark. Count Christian Conrad Sophus Danneskiold-Samsøe proposed to the Danish royal house to establish a glassworks in the Holmegaard bog near Fensmark, on the island of Zealand. In addition to wood, peat was also used as a fuel for glass melting at that time.
The approval dragged on for several years, so that Count Christian died and therefore his widow Henriette Danneskjold Samsøe 1823 began with the construction of the Hütte. Initially, as usual, articles of daily need from drinking glasses to bottles and canning glasses were produced – everything that the country really urgently needed in glass articles.
After a few years, opal glass was also produced, which at that time was a real novelty. Then, at the end of the 19th century, Holmegaard Glassworks even imported glassware to complement its own collection
Under the Ägide of Carlsberg
At the beginning of the 20th century until 2004, Copenhagen had its own store. In 1965 übernnahm because of the bottle production Carlsberg brewery the glassworks in Holmegaard and Kastrup and merged the two companies. The utility and art glass production of both companies was concentrated in Zealand. The glassworks in Kastrup was finally closed in 1979. After the Carlsberg brewery had made acquisitions in the luxury tableware segment, the management of the Holmegaard glass factory was transferred to the Royal Copenhagen porcelain factory, which also belonged to Carlsberg. In the late 1990s, after acquiring the Swedish glass manufacturers Orrefors and Kosta Boda, Carlsberg brought all the luxury brands together under the umbrella of the holding company Royal Scandinavia.
Holmegaard – last big glass factory of Denmark
In the course of globalization, the companies and brands were sold individually from the Royal Scandinavia group by Carlsberg in 2004. The glass manufacturer Holmegaard was sold in the course of this to the previous management. The Hütte had to file for bankruptcy in 2008, however, and the Holmegaard brand has since belonged to Rosendahl Design Group.
Packaging glass is still produced in Holmegaard Moor today. Meanwhile, in the corporate group of the internationally operating Ardagh Group. Nowadays, this plant is the only significant glass factory of Denmark.
Holmegaard's classic
Furore makes the brand Holmegaard in the 1960s to 1990s by the eigenständige glass design of the exclusive manufactory. Particularly worthy of mention here are the two artistic directors Jacob E. Bang and Per Lütken. Per Lütken gave the brand a clear and unmistakable product portfolio, if one thinks of his classics such as the highly aesthetic Provence bowls and his drinking glass series Idéelle, Ship glass (Skibsglas) and Holmegaard No. 5. Despite the relatively thick glass, the glasses fit perfectly in the hand and have very pleasant edges for the lips. Another feature of the glass manufactory were the charming glass lamps. However, production was discontinued under the direction of Rosendahl Design Group. The Holmegaard Christmas Collection continues to be a great success.
But the cessation of production also meant a break in general, because especially under the time of Per Lütken classics were created, which are related for glass for using and decoration unusual glass composition and which was used only at the glass factory in Holmegaard Moor.
