Bjørn Wiinblad (1918-2006) was born in Copenhagen. He was an incredibly versatile artist. Having started his career as an artist and illustrator, he expanded his field of activity, working with glass, making posters, working as a designer in set design, textiles and even furniture design.

He became New York’s Person of the Year in 1985 and was awarded the Scandinavian American Foundation’s Culture Prize in 1995.

At a very early age he began to show a talent for drawing, at the age of 17 he began studying to be a typographic compositor, but soon realized that he was more attracted to a career as an artist and entered the Royal Danish Academy of Arts in the graphics department.

Björn Wiinblad gained fame both as an illustrator of books, in particular the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, and as an artist working with ceramics, textiles, glass, wood, and although he is a graduate of the Danish art school, his creative style differs from what is commonly understood as defined as “Scandinavian style,” its characters are more reminiscent of images on Renaissance ceramics.

In 1957, he was appointed chief designer of the German brand Rosenthal, further strengthening its international reputation. Wiinblad’s work for Rosenthal has become a collector’s item, particularly the Christmas plates with fairy-tale characters that he began creating in 1971.