BERTIL VALLIEN. RAINBOW KOSTA BODA VASE.

Bertil Vallien, Rainbow Kosta Boda Vase, signed, height: 18.5 cm.

Bertil Vallien grew up in the villa suburb of Sollentuna north of Stockholm. The parents were Nils and Astrid Wallin, together they had seven children. Vallien's parents belonged to the Pentecostal movement (Pentecostalism), whereby he grew up in a strictly religious environment. The early contact with the artist Bo Notini, whom Bertil Vallien greatly admired, inspired him for artistic work. According to his own statement, it was above all Notini's impressive studio - a treasure trove of sketches, preliminary designs, antique sculptures and numerous curiosities - that moved him to return there again and again. It was Notini who first discovered Vallien's talent and was eventually able to persuade him to begin an artistic career.

First, however, after completing elementary school, Vallien began an apprenticeship in his father's decoration business. A teacher at a trade school was able to persuade Vallien to continue his school career, so that he finally earned his university entrance qualification. At the same time he worked as a window dresser and attended evening courses in life drawing at Konstfack, School of Art and Design in Stockholm, where he then studied ceramics with Stig Lindberg for four years.

During this time he also met the artist Ulrica Hydman, whom he married in September 1963.

In 1961 Vallien left Konstfack with the distinction of being the best student in his year and from then on studied in Mexico and the USA – equipped with a royal scholarship. During this time, Vallien first worked for a glass designer in Los Angeles.

After his return to Sweden in 1963, he began working together with the Åfors glassworks and Kosta Boda, the most important glassworks in the Swedish Kingdom of Crystal. There he became particularly well-known for his way of working, forming the glass mass in sand. Using this technique he has created shimmering glass sculptures of boats and heads. In 1996 came the Viewpoints glass series. In 2002, Vallien created the altar shrine in Växjö Cathedral.

His artistic expression moves in a world of symbols in which the objects stimulate thought.

Bertil Vallien holds an honorary doctorate from Växjö University.