Grete Prytz Kittelsen

Grete Prytz Kittelsen (born Adelgunde Margrethe Prytz, June 28, 1917 – September 25, 2010), was a Norwegian goldsmith, enamel artist, and designer. She is one of the most well-known Norwegians in the Scandinavian design movement, and has been referred to as the "Queen of Scandinavian Design". She was the sister of and they were the fifth generation of the goldsmith firm J. Tostrup. The family was internationally oriented, and the firm had an international profile since its establishment in 1832. The founder of the firm, Jacob Ulrich Holfeldt Tostrup, had studied in Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. His son Oluf Tostrup worked for a rational connection between art, crafts and industry, and was one of the driving forces when the Museum of Applied Art in Oslo was founded in 1876. Her father was director of the family firm, co-founder of (The Applied Art Association) and a leading figure in the renewal of Norwegian fine crafts and design in the interwar period. Prytz' and Juel's residence was often home to students and foreign lecturers of the academy, among them Alvar Aalto and Gregor Paulsson. Paulsson formulated the phrase , which directly translates to . The phrase became a slogan for the Nordic applied arts associations.

After receiving examen artium in 1935, Kittelsen began studying goldsmithing at the National Academy of Art, Crafts and Design. She received her diploma in 1941, after which she worked for J. Tostrup. They divorced after 15 years. Her designs were often inspired by American art, characterized by clear, plain colours and simple shapes. Kittelsen also designed informal, inexpensive jewellery made from silver and vitreous enamel.

Works After the Second World War Grete Prytz Kittelsen was commissioned to renew a range of products in the family firm Tostrup, which she did in cooperation with Arne Korsmo. They created several new objects for use in the home that were adapted to new production methods and a more informal lifestyle. An example is the cutlery Korsmo from 1954, which consisted of relatively few parts, and was simple to produce by the help of a few working tools. Additionally, she designed jewellery inspired by abstract art of the same era. Many of them were manufactured in a particularly rational way.

In 1957–1958 in cooperation with Paolo Venini, owner and director of the Venini Glassworks in Murano she developed jewellery in glass and silver that are considered among her most outstanding works.

From the end of the 1950s she worked as a designer for the Cathrineholm factory in Halden. They built up a collection of objects in enamelled steel that became very popular.

In addition, Prytz Kittelsen was active in scientific research. In 1950 she initiated a cooperation between the Central Institute of Industrial Research at the University of Oslo and Hadeland Glassverk in order to develop new, more affordable types of enamel. Her experiments in form, technique and materials constituted a kind of artistic and practical research.

Impact and honours Kittelsen had grown up with the ideals of the modern design movement, where simple and beautiful everyday objects should be made available to everyone. This, together with a strong technical interest and practical skill, became significant in her work. Both technically and formally, her pieces were characterized by an ability to experiment and a modernity that made them original even in an international setting.

As one of the leading artists of the Scandinavian design movement, Kittelsen received several awards and honours in the 1950s, including the Lunning Prize in 1952. At Kittelsen's initiative, Norway was represented for the first time at the trendsetting Triennale di Milano in 1954. Here she was awarded with a Grand Prix for a large tray in enamelled silver. Later she achieved several awards at the Triennale.

Kittelsen was made a Knight, First Class, of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1986.

In 2018 several buildings and auditoriums at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) were given new names. OsloMet has a tradition of naming their buildings after historical people, and primarily women who have had an impact on one or more of the fields of study at OsloMet. One of the auditoriums at Kjeller campus was given the name Grete Prytz Kittelsens Auditorium, which is located at Karethe Johnsen's house.