Elving Runemalm / Jacob Eiler Bang

Elving Runemalm, Glass engraver * 1910 in Rövaremåla (Småland, SE) +1985 in Vedbæk (DK)
Jacob Eiler Bang, Designer, architect * 1899 in Frederiksberg (DK), +1965 in Kongens Lyngby (DK)

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many Swedish glassworking families emigrated to Denmark. One of them was the glass engraver Elving Runemalm, who previously worked in Orrefors (SE). On the initiative of Jacob E. Bang, the artistic director of Holmegaard Glasværk (DK), he set up an engraving workshop there in 1934. Glass engraving was hardly a tradition in Denmark. Therefore, Swedish expertise was required.

Bang and Runemalm successfully developed their own modern style. Thick-walled, artistically appealing glass was engraved with contemporary shapes and motifs. Runemalm later worked as a freelance engraver in Copenhagen. In 1945 he tried to find a market for his engraved glasses overseas. Jacob E. Bang worked as an architect from 1941, before he was artistic director of the Danish glass factory Kastrup from 1957 to 1965.