Annual Brains 2026 BV AC -26

Bertil Vallien created his first Brain in 1999, but the idea had been with him for more than a decade before that. He wanted to capture a sleeping yet living soul – the human being in the mysterious borderland between dream and wakefulness. His inspiration partly came from the story of “The Sleeper of Oknö,” Karolina Olsson, who, according to legend, slept for 32 years and suddenly awoke one April day in 1908.

In 2023, as Bertil celebrated 60 years as an artist at Kosta Boda, he created a new series of Brains — a gift to those of us who have followed his journey through the decades, never ceasing to cherish his unique gift for reinventing the art of glass.