Friedl Holzer-Kjellberg was born October 24, 1905 in Austria. She came to Finland and was employed by the Arabia factory in 1924. While visiting the museums of her native country she became interested in the Chinese "rice porcelain", dating from the 18th century Chien Lung period. As a result of ten years experimenting she managed to solve the secret of the "rice porcelain" technique (Rice porcelain was made of extremely thin porcelain by cutting out the rice shaped pattern and then glaze entire object so the cutout areas remain transparent). Friedl Kjellberg worked for Arabia a total of 46 years.
Her work is represented in the collections of Victoria & Albert Museum London, Design Museum Helsinki, Rohska Museum, Goteborg and museums of Faenza, Amsterdam and Trondheim.
Friedl Holzer-Kjellberg was born October 24, 1905 in Austria. She came to Finland and was employed by the Arabia factory in 1924. While visiting the museums of her native country she became interested in the Chinese "rice porcelain", dating from the 18th century Chien Lung period. As a result of ten years experimenting she managed to solve the secret of the "rice porcelain" technique (Rice porcelain was made of extremely thin porcelain by cutting out the rice shaped pattern and then glaze entire object so the cutout areas remain transparent). Friedl Kjellberg worked for Arabia a total of 46 years.
Her work is represented in the collections of Victoria & Albert Museum London, Design Museum Helsinki, Rohska Museum, Goteborg and museums of Faenza, Amsterdam and Trondheim.
Pictures: Friedl Holzer-Kjellberg, portrait (source Designed-in-Finland); Friedl, youth portrait 1925 (source Wikipedia); reddish glazed plate (source Ruby Lane); rice porcelain bowl (source Botterweg Auctions Amsterdam).