Søholm Kellinghusen Tea Canister by Ejvind Johansen, c. 1960s

A sculptural Danish kitchen canister from Søholm’s Kellinghusen series, defined by its squared architectural body, softly tapered neck, and hand-painted cobalt decoration. The intentionally simple “Tea” lettering gives the piece the cheerful domestic character that made Scandinavian utility ceramics of the period so enduring.

Era: c. 1960–1965
Style: Danish Modern / Scandinavian Folk Modern
Origin: Bornholm, Denmark
Maker: Søholm Keramik
Designer: Ejvind Johansen
Series: Kellinghusen

The Piece

Formed with gently rounded corners and a distinctly geometric silhouette, this ceramic tea canister balances modernist restraint with hand-painted detail. A pale grey-blue glaze covers the body, framed by loose cobalt-blue borders and looping ornament around the word “Tea.”

The glaze has developed an extensive network of fine crazing, giving the surface a softly aged texture without obscuring the decoration. The underside retains its blue Made in Søholm Denmark factory mark.

The original cork stopper is no longer present, allowing the piece to serve equally well as a small utensil vessel, bud vase, or decorative kitchen object.

History

The Kellinghusen kitchen-storage series was designed by Ejvind Johansen for Søholm during the early 1960s. Surviving examples include canisters labeled for tea, coffee, cocoa, flour, sugar, and spices, typically finished in grey glaze with freely painted blue lettering and fitted originally with substantial cork stoppers.

Søholm was established in Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm in 1835 and remained in operation until 1996. The factory became one of Bornholm’s most significant ceramic producers, moving between traditional household pottery and the increasingly expressive modern forms associated with postwar Danish design.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

This is Danish Modern at its most approachable: practical in origin, compact in scale, and animated by the slight irregularities of hand-painted decoration. Displayed on open shelving or repurposed as a vase, it introduces a genuine piece of Bornholm ceramic history without demanding the solemnity humans often assign to anything more than fifty years old.