Collection: Søholm (Denmark)

Søholm was founded in 1835 in Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm, a region with a long tradition of pottery and ceramic production. Established by Herman Sonne Wolffsen and Edvard Christian Sonne, the factory operated for more than 160 years before closing in 1996.

Across its long history, Søholm produced a wide variety of domestic and decorative ceramics. Its modernist work of the 1950s and 1960s forms a particularly significant chapter, when the factory's designs contributed to the wider reputation of Danish craft and design.

Artists associated with Søholm include Einar Johansen, Noomi Backhausen, Paul Brandborg and Maria Philippi. Johansen's blue-glazed work is especially recognisable to collectors, while Backhausen and Brandborg collaborated on ranges including Erica and Cactus. Their varied contributions helped give the factory an output that extended well beyond a single house style.

For much of its later history, Søholm was cooperatively owned, with the ceramics workers' union playing a central role. This industrial and social background sits alongside the individual designers' work, making the factory an important part of Bornholm's ceramic heritage as well as a source of distinctive mid-century pottery.

Read more about Søholm's designers here, and the factory's history as presented at Hjorths Fabrik here.