Lotta Horn

In 1991, Lotta Horn received the “Excellent Swedish Design” award for a pastry brush designed for Kronborsten AB. In the latest selection round (98/99) of Excellent Swedish Design 16, Lotta Horn chaired the jury. In addition to this involvement, Lotta Horn is a board member of the FormMuseum Friends and a member of the industry association SID – Swedish Industrial Designers.

SVID (Swedish Industrial Design) is the Ministry of Industry’s body tasked with informing and encouraging the application of good design in Swedish industrial companies. In 1996, Lotta Horn participated in an education project organized by SVID to conduct design reviews at small and medium-sized enterprises to improve ideas, design, and marketing.

Lotta (Ann-Charlotte) Horn af Rantzien (born Lemming -1949) resides in Drottningholm and Öland. Lotta painted a lot during her childhood, and at Vasastans Flickskola, she received special drawing lessons. During high school, Lotta attended evening classes at Konstfack and drew nude figures. During the 1970s, Lotta continued to paint watercolors and oils, inspired primarily by the idyllic location on Öland. During this period, she also studied at the Tailoring Academy, designing and sewing sheepskin coats, creating knitting patterns for Bildjournalen, and designing and sewing children’s clothing. She owned and operated a shop selling second-hand children’s clothes with her sister Lena. Lotta designed and machine-knitted clothes and, together with her husband Carl, ran the Lammet and Grisen Restaurant on Öland, studied law courses, gave birth to three children, and began her studies in industrial design at Konstfack.

Lotta Horn began working with textiles after completing basic education at the Tailoring Academy. Her interest in other materials and products led to five years of studies at Konstfack’s Industrial Design program. After completing her degree and a year of internship at Eliot Noyes Industrial Inc in the USA, she started her own company, Industridesign Lotta Horn AB.

From the outset, Lotta Horn has focused on projects aimed at simplifying everyday tasks while enhancing the aesthetic value of household or public environment items. For Kronborsten AB, Lotta Horn has designed, among other things, dish brushes and pastry brushes. She has also developed brushes and aids for healthcare on behalf of inventors, such as a foot brush for rheumatoid arthritis patients and a birthing stool.

In a pilot project initiated by Nutek, IVA, and the Swedish Form Association, Industridesign Lotta Horn participated along with 14 other companies in Sweden’s first EcoDesign education in 1997. The project aimed to create good educational examples among small businesses through environmentally friendly product development using design efforts, contributing to an improved environment for a sustainable future.

Since 1990, Lotta Horn has been designing production for Rejmyre Mässingsbruk. Manufacturing takes place in a craftsmanship manner with solid brass casting in various forms. The collection consists of classic high-quality items – candlesticks, letter racks, bookends, and photo frames in several designs and sizes.

In 1983-84, Lotta interned at Eliot Noyes Industrial Design, New Canaan, CT, USA. She then returned to Konstfack and completed her degree studies with a thesis on children’s glasses for Skaga and a shopping cart for the elderly. After Konstfack, Lotta started Industridesign Lotta Horn and began working as a freelance industrial designer, a profession she has pursued ever since. One of the first assignments Lotta received was to design a new dish brush for Kronborsten AB, which today has sold over 83 million units, and there is hardly a single Nordic person who has not held a dish brush designed by Lotta Horn. The collaboration with Kronborsten has lasted for four decades, and besides dish brushes, Lotta has designed, among other things, hangers, cleaning tools, and a pastry brush, which received the Excellent Swedish Design award in 1991.

In the 1980s, Lotta also received commissions for Aroma (jelly candies) and for Grafix Design in Santa Cruz, CA, USA (wristwatches). During this period, Lotta continued to paint primarily landscape paintings in watercolor and oil. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lotta occasionally exhibited her paintings during the summer months in Öland. From 1989 to 1991, Lotta was a board member of SID, Swedish Industrial Designers.

In the early 1990s, Lotta was the design manager at Rejmyre Mässingsbruk, where she developed a new product line consisting primarily of candlesticks, bookends, trivets, and brass horses in various forms. Lotta also continued her education in EcoDesign. She was also elected as a board member of the FormMuseum Friends in 1993 and remained faithful to the board until 2013. In 1996, Lotta was appointed chairman of Excellent Swedish Design 16. In 1997, Lotta became a board member of Zonta II in Stockholm, serving as chairman between 1999 and 2001. For several years, she was a member of the design group About Design.

During the 2000s, painting has taken on a more prominent role, and in recent years, inspiration has flourished again, but with grandchildren and life’s various moments at the center. Lotta has devoted much of her life to learning to see shapes, colors, and relationships, and to look inward, outward, and upward in the universe.