Sustainability and manufacturing
Svenskt Tenn cares about the environment and sustainability, and the classic glass items in its range are no exception. When Skruf Glassworks in Småland produces glass items for Svenskt Tenn, it uses lead-free glass pellets that are mixed with approximately 30 per cent shards, the broken glass leftovers from manufacturing. The pellets come from Emmaboda, which is about 20 kilometres from the glassworks. Skruf uses an electric furnace, powered only with electricity from water and wind power. Waste, such as corrugated board and other combustibles, are sorted and sent for recycling. Any broken glass that is not used by the glassworks is sold to glass studios, which means that almost all of the glass is recycled. The premises themselves are heated with the help of wood pellets.
Purchasing Swedish glass cuts down on transport distances, helping to avoid a heavy climate impact, and by producing timeless products of high quality and a long service life, we are taking efforts not to waste the earth’s resources. Classic glass objects are rarely thrown away. Instead, they are preserved throughout the years and can be resold or passed down as gifts to the next generation.
Production
“The first thing that happens in the production of the acorn vase is that we pick up the glass and roll it into an even lump. Then we blow in some air in the barrel before we go into the mold and blow out the round shape. When we are done with the glass blowing part, we remove the glass from the mold and tap it off the barrel.
Then we let it cool down from 500 to 30 degrees, a process that takes about four hours. When the glass has cooled, we remove a part of the opening so that all the vases are the same height. We draw with a small carving on the glass and then heat it lightly with a gas flame so that it cracks right at the scratch. After that, we grind away any irregularities that remains, and heat up the rim so that it becomes round and sleek. Finally, we inspect each individual vase before we pack it up and send it to the store at Strandvägen 5 in Stockholm.”
- Kent Elm, CEO at Skrufs Glassworks.
Sustainability in focus
Read more about Svenskt Tenn's Sustainability Philosophy below.