Skilled industrial designer
Sleek lines and clean shapes where the trademarks of goldsmith and industrial designer Agnar Skrede. After training as a goldsmith as a young man he was granted a three year scolarship to continue his studies. Coming to Oslo he took up studies at the National College of Art and Design NCAD (formerly The Norwegian Arts and Crafts School SHKS) with good results, and 24 years old he started working as a designer with the David-Andersen company. Skrede stayed with David-Andersen 1953-57, and won several prizes for his designs.
Years at David-Andersen
His works at David-Andersen cover tableware and vases, both with enamel and without, and has a distinct Scandinavian style with soft, well-balanced shapes.
His most well known design is a series of young modern enamel jewelry called Bølge (Wave). The series concist of bracelets, earrings and a sleek brooch produced in black, green, yellow or blue enamel, as well as a gilded version with white enamel. This wave series won a gold medal at a craft exhibition in Münich 1955.
Establishing his own
After leaving David-Andersen, Agnar Skrede started up his own design company, specialising in metal and palstic products. In 1962 he won a competition for a stainless steel sugar and cream set, which enabled him to establish his own company. The set was a success when in was put in production the year after by the company Norsk stålpress.
His production spans over a wide range of fields. With a passion for wildlife and entrepreneurship, he came up with a plastic cartridge holder produced by his own design company.
Agnar Skrede won several other rewards, and continued to work as a free-lance goldsmith designing for different companies. His interest in functionality led him to work on cufflinks, improving the shape of the back part to make it slip easier through the buttonhole. He designed sports trophies prouced by goldsmith Ottar Hval for the Nordic World Ski Championships held in Oslo 1966. The same year Ottar Hval also executing church silver designed by Skrede for a newly built modernistic church.
For other companies
In 1967 Agnar Skrede designed a series of silver pendants with semiprecious stone for the company Aksel Holmsen, following the 1960s trend of using stones found localy in Norway for jewelry production. In the 1960s and 1970s he collaborated with the company Lars Harsheim on new collections of gold jewelry with an elegant simplicity. His jewelry were included in a group exhibition at the newly opened PLUS jewelry gallery 1972.
Skrede continued working through a long career. In 1989 he designed a series of Mayor chains of office executed in silver and enamel, and in 1990 he won a Norwegian Goldsmith and Jewellers Association competition on the theme Nature Conservation. His contribution was a charming silver pendant depicting a motherbird nurtering her babies.
