All activities / Craft Skills (Bladesmithing, Pottery, Glass) / Bornholm
Craft Skills (Bladesmithing, Pottery, Glass) in Bornholm
A Baltic Sea island east of the Danish mainland, known for its clear light, granite coast, smokehouses and a dense community of glass and ceramics studios that made it Europe's first World Craft Region.
Why here
Bornholm is Denmark's craft island, and in 2017 it became the first place in Europe named a World Craft Region by the World Crafts Council, on the strength of an unusually dense community of glass and ceramics makers. The clear Baltic light and a long tradition of independent studios draw craftspeople here, and the small harbour towns are lined with working workshops you can walk into. Glass is the signature. In Svaneke, Pernille Bulow has blown glass since opening her Glastorvet studio in 1989, and runs sessions where visitors blow and decorate a piece of their own, while near Gudhjem the Baltic Sea Glass workshop lets you watch glassblowers shape colour-rich tableware and art glass at the furnace. Beyond glass there are ceramicists, the Royal Danish Academy's glass and ceramics school, and Hjorths ceramics factory, so a day of studio-hopping is easy to fill. It is craft at the source, in the places it is actually made.
Best months
Most studios keep their fullest hours and demonstration schedules from spring through autumn, with the summer season the busiest and best for finding furnaces lit and hands-on sessions running; many scale back or close in winter. Bornholm sits well out in the Baltic, closer to Sweden than to Copenhagen, so it rewards an overnight stay rather than a rushed day trip. Check individual studio opening hours before you go, as they vary by season.
Getting there & around
Bornholm is reached by a fast ferry from Ystad in Sweden, itself a train ride and short crossing from Copenhagen, or by a direct domestic flight. On the island a car or bike is the way to link the studios, which are scattered around the coast in towns like Svaneke, Gudhjem and Nexo. Confirm workshop hours and book any hands-on glass session ahead, especially in peak summer.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Baltic Sea Glass
OutfitterA working glass studio and gallery at Melstedvej near Gudhjem on Bornholm, where visitors watch glassblowers shape pieces by hand in front of the furnaces. Long one of the island's defining hot-glass workshops, it is known for sculptural, colour-rich tableware and art glass, including its three-legged Trinity vase and the Herringbone and UNIKA collections. Bornholm's status as Europe's first designated World Craft Region grew from studios like this one.
Pernille Bulow
SchoolA glass studio and gallery in the harbour town of Svaneke on Bornholm, opened in 1989 by Pernille Bulow, who trained as a glassblower at Sweden's Orrefors school in 1982. Glassblowers work the furnaces at the Glastorvet square, and through the studio's Pernille Bulow By You sessions visitors can blow and decorate a piece of their own. The output runs from drinking glasses and vases to the award-winning Chess series and a recycled-glass ReUse line.