Bracelet

Designed by Grete Prytz Kittelsen for Jacob Tostrup

Norway, 1960s

Grete Prytz Kittelsen did not set out to become an icon. She grew up in a home where form and function were everyday conversation, where metalwork was not a distant craft but something that lived on the family’s fingertips. Her father co-founded J. Tostrup, one of Norway’s most respected goldsmith workshops, and Grete spent her childhood wandering through rooms that smelled of fire, enamel dust, and possibility.

But her brilliance lay not in inheriting tradition — it was in daring to loosen its seams.

During the 1940s and 50s, when Scandinavian design was beginning to find its voice, Grete was quietly shaping its vocabulary. While others spoke of purity and restraint, she introduced colour — unapologetic, luminous colour. She believed that everyday objects deserved joy. A bowl should feel like a celebration. A cup should be a small moment of beauty in a long day. Her enamel work, often created in collaboration with architect Arne Korsmo, felt like a new language: vivid hues that glowed from within, metalwork that felt both ancient and futuristic.

She was one of the very few women in her field, yet she moved through it with a rare steadiness. At the Milan Triennale she won gold medals as calmly as she sketched, letting the work speak in its clear, heartfelt way. Her designs for Cathrineholm became global favourites — yet she never saw them as prestige objects. She wanted them in real homes, on real tables, gathering scratches and stories.

What makes Grete Prytz Kittelsen so enduring is not only her mastery of material, but her philosophy: that good design is an act of generosity. She believed beauty should be democratic, that a household object could lift the human spirit without ever asking for permission.

Late in life, she continued to experiment, her hands still reaching for new shades, new surfaces, new ways of making the ordinary extraordinary. When she passed away in 2010, she left behind far more than enamel bowls and jewellery — she left a way of seeing the world. A way where craft is both humble and radiant, where colour is a form of courage, and where the smallest objects can hold the warmth of a life’s work.

Today, her pieces are treasured not just for their design history, but for the feeling they carry: a quiet, steady belief that beauty belongs to everyone.

Stamped.