What Would Bjorn Wiinblad Do?

I didn’t even know who Bjorn Wiinblad was until about a week or two ago. In my never ending hunt for vintage-tastic stuff, I came across some of his work. And then I went and found more. And then I fell in love.

And then I was sad. Bjorn Wiinblad died in 2006. He was one of Denmark’s most famous and beloved artists of all time, working from the ’50’s through his death on paintings, sculpture, pottery, posters, illustrations, glassware – he’s even immortalized on a Danish postage stamp. His work was incredibly whimsical, yet contemporary and classic. It was flowery without being obnoxious. And he was so ahead of his time. His work looks just as stunning today as it did 60 years ago. You might see some similarity with Kaj Franck’s work, the two were both prominent designers during the same era.

The worst part about his work is that most of it isn’t cheap. I’ve seen hard to find sculptures on Ebay for $20K. Even his mass-produced vases and decorative plates can go for $75-$300. I’m saving my pennies to start a collection of Bjorn Wiinblad pieces. I found some of his pottery on Etsy for only $30, because the seller didn’t know they were Wiinblad-made. Lucky me.

Anyway, the most surprising thing to me about his work is that it made me want to draw again. I’ve always been into art, but I haven’t actually done original artwork in over 10 years. But I wanted more Bjorn Wiinblad art so much that I decided to draw something myself. And if he were alive today, I wondered what he would do, faced with a blank canvas and an extra hour of time.

Totally weird.

So yeah, my photoblog just turned into an art and photoblog, I guess. I don’t know if I will continue to do more illustrations, but I must say this was insanely satisfying. Even if it was a complete knock-off of someone else’s style.

Thank you, Mr. Wiinblad.

Alternative Image Formats

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Please credit using the following: "(CC) Some Rights Reserved by Wendy Piersall". I'd really like a link to this site, too, if you can swing it. :)