Vintage Swedish terracotta Boy Footballer figurine By designer Bengt Nilsson for JIE Gantofta Sweden.
Jie Gantofta Keramik was founded in 1942 in Helsingborg by John Ewert ‘Jie’ Johnson and initially produced small wooden objects that were furnished with glass or ceramics. The company expanded rapidly and moved to a larger location in Gantofta in 1944. As from 1952, Johnson started to produce ceramics for household use, at first according to traditional methods, but soon the products were manufactured by means of casting moulds and then painted by hand by several designers, such as Ella Bergstrand and Anita Nylund. When this technique became too expensive, the factory began to use silk-screen prints in order to apply decorations to its products. All designs by Anita Nylund were applied according to this method, although the pottery was still produced by Jie himself. In the mid 60s, the company stopped the production of household goods and switched to the manufacturing of decorative goods. The first designer who was hired for that reason was Elsi Bourelius. She mainly designed female figures made of ceramics. The production of wooden objects, however, remained an important discipline for Jie and lasted until well into the 80s.
Aimo Nietosvuori started working as a designer at Jie in 1967. The decorative tiles he made for the company, became bestsellers. Many designers launching new products followed him with varying success until the 80s, such as Annika Kihlman, Solveig en Siegfried Uelzhöfer, Maria Ericson, Edith Risberg and Bengt Nilsson. Staffan Johnson returned to his father’s company and started working as a designer. His interest in ornithology resulted in many designs representing birds. In 1992, Jie Gantofta celebrated its 50th anniversary, but later that year the company went bankrupt and production was transferred abroad, especially to Portugal.
- Height – 12 cm
- Width – 5,5 cm
- Handmade and handpainted
- Designer – Bengt Nilsson
- Vintage era – 70s
- Manufacturer – JIE Gantofta Sweden
- Made in Sweden
- Condition – great / signs of age may appear / few scratches on the bottom
