Friedl Holzer-Kjellberg

Friedl Kjellberg ( Holzer, from 1932 Holzer-Kjellberg; 24 October 1905 — 11 September 1993) was an Austrian-Finnish ceramicist, noted especially for her work with the so-called 'rice grain' method of porcelain-making.

Career Friedl Holzer studied art and design in her native Austria, at the Kunstgewerbeschule design school in Graz, and upon graduating was offered a position as a designer at the Arabia ceramics manufacturer in Helsinki, Finland. She joined the company in 1924, and stayed there her entire career, until her retirement 46 years later in 1971.

In 1932, Friedl Holzer married her colleague at Arabia, engineer Erik Kjellberg, and was thereafter alternately known both as Friedl Kjellberg and Holzer-Kjellberg. It was an instant success, despite the high price due to the labour-intensive and time-consuming production method, and her rice grain porcelain designs remained in the Arabia product range until 1974.

Collections Besides Arabia's own design museum in Helsinki, Kjellberg's works are included in the permanent collections of the Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz, the Museum of Design, Zürich and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, as well as several museums in Scandinavia and Germany.

Awards and honours Kjellberg won a silver medal at the 5th Milan Triennial (1933), and gold at the 10th edition (1954), as well as silver at Cannes (1955).

In 1962, she was awarded the medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland.