page_title: Grete Prytz Kittelsen
section_title: Post-war years
hierarchical_section_title: Grete Prytz Kittelsen / Post-war years
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: Kaffekjele produsert på Cathrineholm i Halden omkring 1965. Designet av Grete Prytz Kittelsen, dekoren «Lotus» utformet av Arne Clausen. Diameter 13. cm. Foto Anne-Lise Reinsfelt/Norsk Folkemuseum, NF.2007-0149AB.
context_page_description: Grete Prytz Kittelsen, was a Norwegian goldsmith, enamel artist, and designer. She is one of the most well-known Norwegians in the Scandinavian Design movement, and has been referred to as the "Queen of Scandinavian Design". Through her work she contributed to internationalisation, innovation and scientific research. She was one of the few Norwegian practitioners who shaped the Scandinavian design style in the post-war era and is the periods’ most renowned Norwegian practitioner. Kittelsen's aim was to make beautiful and user-friendly everyday objects available for everyone. She had a vast and varied production. With her enamelled objects and jewelry she has been a pioneer in design in the post-war era and a model for the next generation of designers. Today her pieces constitute design icons and are sought-after collectables.
context_section_description: After World War II Kittelsen moved back to Oslo and worked for the family business. She designed numerous works of silver, vitreous enamel and plastic, sometimes collaborating with her husband, Arne Korsmo. Kittelsen pioneered the use of large-scale manufacturing methods utilized by later industrial designers. As recipient of a Fulbright grant, Kittelsen lived in the United States in 1949 and 1950, where she studied at the IIT Institute of Design. Kittelsen and her husband, Arne Korsmo, traveled around the US and Mexico and met with other designers and architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Ray and Charles Eames, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, James Prestini, and Edgar Kaufmann Jr., who was the director of the Industrial Design Department at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. Edgar Kaufmann Jr. had visited Norway a year prior to Kittelsens travels in the US, and was then shown a plate by Kittelsen. The plate was later exhibited in MoMA. Through their travels, Kittelsen and her husband acquired a network consisting of the most prominent practitioners of the time. This made it possible to show the exhibition American Form and to arrange a seminar in industrial design at the National Academy of Art, Crafts and Design with teachers from Illinois Institute of Technology. The seminar was groundbreaking for the renewal of the contents and pedagogical methods of the school.
  As one of the leading artists of the Scandinavian Design movement, Kittelsen received several awards and honors in the 1950s, including the Lunning Prize in 1952. At the initiative of Grete Prytz Kittelsen Norway was for the first time represented at the trendsetting Triennale di Milano in 1954. Here she was awarded with a Grand Prix for a large tray in enameled silver. Later she achieved several awards at the Triennale.
  From 1954 to 1957 she participated in the "Design in Scandinavia" exhibition, shown in several places in the United States and Canada. Near the end of the 50s, her products, manufactured by Hadeland Glassverk and Cathrineholm, were commonly found in Norwegian homes. "Sensasjonskasserollen" (lit. The sensation casserole) was particularly successful, with 150,000 units sold in 1964. Her designs were often inspired by American art, characterized by clear, plain colors and simple shapes. Kittelsen also designed informal, inexpensive jewelry made from silver and vitreous enamel.
  Her foreign visits after travelling in the US were mainly linked to participation at exhibitions and conferences, often related to her engagement in the World Crafts Council (WCC), of which she was a co-founder and board member.  
  In 1971 she married Sverre (Loe) Kittelsen. They divorced in 2002.
  Grete Prytz Kittelsen died at age 93 in Oslo 25 September 2010.
caption: Coffee pot produced at Cathrineholm in Halden, Norway ca. 1965. Design by Grete Prytz Kittelsen, pattern «Lotus» by Arne Clausen. Diameter 13. cm. Photo Anne-Lise Reinsfelt/Norsk Folkemuseum, NF.2007-0149AB.
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