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JIE-SWEDEN

Jie Gantofta 1942-1992 The company was founded by John Evert "Jie" Johnson in Helsingborg 1942. They made ​​small wooden items often supplemented with glass or ceramics and for his help, he had cabinetmaker Hugo Karlsson. Actually a sideline for Jie because then he worked as a decorator for Boréus. The company grew and in 1944 moved the business to Jie Gantofta where there were facilities that were suitable for his production. At that time it was still wood goodies produced, but in 1952 he started his own production of ceramics, oven, he had already. Jie had already bought raw goods from other small producers that he glazed and burned, in addition he also burned some stained glass windows. Production was initially very artisanal, but soon he began to pour castings with pile casting. Most of what was produced was frihandsdekorerat household goods. A very clever pattern cartoonist was Ella Bergstrand, but there were of course others who also contributed designs. The method used was called over glaze painting and it was produced in faience (also called poor man's porcelain). Jie 1969 - Aimo Nietosvuori Later in the 50th century when hand painting became too expensive, they started with serigraphs. It became easier to add color in places using underglaze colors. It was kind of like painting in a coloring book. Until then, Jie self-created objects, but soon came the designers to the company with their own models, mainly in stoneware. Kerstin Biuw and Elsi Soderberg was the first to fully own models. Some of them drejades of employee hand turner. Wood articles were still important for Jie, even vital during the period when the sale of Anita Nylund products fell. The manufacture of wooden articles then continued until the mid-80s. Elsi Bourelius was the first designer that came with ornaments. She made ​​preferably female figures. The most popular was the Southern Tösen produced in five different sizes, with a variety of glazes and was featured in the catalogs up to the bankruptcy, 1992. I Aimo Nietosvuori, came to Jie 1967 Previously, I was big manufacturer of candle holders for tea lights with own workshop in Västerås . During my time with Jie, I launched a brand new product on the Swedish market, namely wall paintings. They would prove to be Jie's best-selling item. Overall, I created about 1,300 products for Jie Gantofta. There were also other designer to Jie with new and different models, including wall paintings. Annika Kihlman each of them. Others who came were a couple of Värmland, Solveig and Siegfried Uelzhöfer, with Solsig in Lysvik common signature. The couple separated but Solveig stayed and continued to produce new models. Maria Ericson with his dog figurines in stoneware, came to Jie in the early 1970s. She made ​​a large number of dog and raskattfigurer which became very popular. She also did a series of endangered animals for WWF, which is also recognized internationally. Edith Risberg joined Jie in the mid-1970s. She designed primarily flower pots and vases, but later also different characters in particular genres. She was very productive during his 10 years at the Jie. 1980 appointed Bengt Nilsson, primarily to manage the company's advertising. But he also did paintings, burlesque goblins and other fun characters. Unfortunately died Bengt already 1985. Jie built a new warehouse as a continuation of the existing building, and only a couple of years later another warehouse. He bought new larger furnaces as product volume grew and he also hired more employees. There were many other designers who also tried their luck at Jie, but without much success. Jie's son, Staffan Johnson, moved to Gantofta to work as a designer. He had already in his youth created a number of designs for Jie and now he created more designs for paintings. The last of Jie's all designers were Eva Jarenskog. She started back in the mid-1980s to make their figures. First, small delicate baby figures, but later also a lot of other figures including Santa Claus and magic figures. Jie has for its total operation time had about 50 different designers, some with more success, others made ​​only a few characters without much success. Jie Gantofta celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1992, followed by an office party later in the autumn. The same year the company went out of business, specifically in December. And so was the amazing saga end. After the bankruptcy was bought brand company of other stakeholders, and production was placed abroad, mostly in Portugal. The Portuguese made ​​products then came on the market, were not counted as some real Jie-products, despite their stamps and labels.