In 2021, Klenell was awarded a scholarship from the prestigious Ulrica Hydman
Vallien foundation that allowed him to deploy his industry-derived artistic approach
within Kosta Glassworks. Operating within the factory showed him that beyond the
glass, beyond tradition, the true materials he was working with were teamwork and
trust. The works in Ad Libitum are the result of Klenell’s second engagement with Kosta
and deepen the dialogue he started there nearly two years ago.
The success of these objects relies on the dynamics of the team, their comfort with
each other, with him, and with the process he has laid out. This is always the case in
blown glass design objects, but Klenell’s approach amplifies and requires this dynamic
more than most. Because unlike other designers, who call on skilled artisans to translate
their work from the page to the hot shop more or less directly, Klenell’s scores leave
spaces for improvisation, little “breathing spaces” that require the glassblower to work
beyond the well-worn grooves of the known.
Susie J. Silbert
Former Curator of Postwar and Contemporary,
The Corning Museum of Glass
