Royal Crystal at Mats Jonasson Målerås - October 2005

Recently, Mats Jonasson at Målerås Glassworks received the honour which gives him the right to call himself ”Purveyor to His Majesty the King”. The emblem consists of the national coat of arms with the words ”Purveyor to the Royal Court”. The title itself stands for Swedish quality, with products of a first-rate, Scandinavian design. These days, only a very few are given the Royal Purveyorship yearly, which naturally makes the honour even more desirable.

During the reign of the old king—Gustavus VI Adolf—there were more than 1,000 Royal Purveyors, but today—under the government of Carl XVI Gustavus (grandson of the old king), there are only circa 130 Royal Purveyors in various parts of the kingdom.

Nowadays a Royal Purveyorship is granted only by His Majesty the King himself, or by Her Majesty the Queen herself. The requirements for being given the honour, apart from keeping high quality, is that the company in question performs services to—or delivers goods to—a member of the Royal family. The Royal Purveyorship itself is personally tied to the CEO of the company, or equivalent. The products of a Royal Purveyor are utilized by the Royal family for personal use, as well as for use within the palace administration. During state visits, and other travels, the King and Queen often bring along gifts from Sweden, products which quite often come from Royal Purveyors.

Mats Jonasson has already made himself a worldwide reputation with his circumstantial animal crystal reliefs. This autumn, he has experienced great success with his completely new and innovative art form—”Iron&Crystal”, which is on display in the Glasswork’s exhibition hall.