This article forms part of the Decorative and Applied Arts Encyclopedia, a master reference hub providing a structured overview of design history, materials, movements, and practitioners.
Arne Jon Jutrem (1929–2005) was a Norwegian glass designer and painter. His career moved between useful household objects and experimental art glass. He worked with glassblowers at Hadeland Glassverk and also developed an independent practice in painting and public commissions.
Arne Jon Jutrem at Hadeland
Jutrem completed his studies at the Norwegian School of Crafts and Design in 1950. He joined Hadeland that year, working alongside Willy Johansson and Hermann Bongard. The designers and glassblowers explored new forms and ways of decorating glass.
His output included tableware and small series of art glass. These areas offered different demands: household wares required forms suited to repeated use, while art glass allowed more individual treatment of colour and surface. Hadeland’s history identifies Tony (1953) and Grønland (1954) among his designs.
Grønland and the Archaic series
The Grønland series combined coloured glass with bubbles. It received a gold medal at the Milan Triennale in 1954. This award was distinct from the Lunning Prize, which Jutrem received in 1959 for the Archaic series.
Gerd Hennum’s biographical account describes the Archaic bowls, vases and bottles as clear or grey-green glass with applied flecks and stripes. Their earthy colours and surface effects connect his glassmaking with his interests as a painter. The prize supported travel, and he chose to visit Mexico.
The photograph above shows a simple cylindrical drinking glass with purple-blue colour. Its plain outline offers a useful comparison with the more varied surfaces of his art glass. The image alone does not establish the illustrated object’s production date or precise model history.
Holmegaard, PLUS and Expo 67
During the 1960s, Jutrem also worked as a freelance designer for Holmegaard in Denmark. Biographical sources give different start and end dates for this association. It is therefore described here by decade rather than with a disputed date range.
At PLUS in Fredrikstad, he made glass sculptures for Expo 67 in Montreal. He also collaborated on furniture for the exhibition with Tormod Alnæs and model maker Johan Flåten. The project extended his work beyond vessels into furniture and large-scale glass.
Painting and a return to glass
Jutrem studied with Fernand Léger in Paris. Painting became his main focus after 1967. Hennum describes a move from constructed compositions towards a more lyrical abstraction, informed by nature and music.
Public work also linked his painting with architecture. His projects included the painted frieze at Vang school in Ringerike. He returned to Hadeland in 1984, collaborating with glassblowers on strongly coloured vases, bowls and dishes.
Teaching and recognition
Arne Jon Jutrem taught in Oslo and became a professor of aesthetics in 1994. In 1992, he received the Jacob Prize and became a Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav. These honours recognised a career spanning design, art and education.
His work is a useful example of the relationship between factory design and an artist’s independent practice. Collaboration with skilled makers supported experiments in glass, while painting offered another way to explore colour, rhythm and form.
Sources
Mats Linder. Arne Jon Jutrem. Store norske leksikon, updated 25 March 2025. Glass designs, Expo 67, teaching and honours.
Gerd Hennum. Arne Jon Jutrem. Norsk biografisk leksikon. Text from the 1999–2005 printed work; the page warns that the content has not been updated since 2005. Archaic series, Lunning Prize, painting and return to Hadeland.
Albert Steen. Arne-Jon Jutrem. Norsk kunstnerleksikon, originally published 1982–86. Early training, collaboration and glass work.
Hadeland Glassverk. Historien om Hadeland Glassverk. Manufacturer’s history, including Tony and Grønland. Sources checked 15 October 2026.
Source differences: Holmegaard dates vary between 1962–64 and 1963–66; accounts also differ on his teaching start date and exact birth date. This article retains the agreed years of his life and omits those disputed details. The original reference below is preserved; its book passage was not independently consulted.
Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL
