Gunnar Cyrén
The Nobel cutlery still used at the annual Nobel Banquet in Stockholm
In 1991, Sweden's Nobel Foundation
commissioned a new cutlery to mark the 90th anniversary of the Nobel Prize.
They turned to Gunnar Cyrén — already a Lunning Prize winner, already exhibited internationally. The result was Nobel: a quiet contrast of matte and polished steel, drawn from the 18th-century royal table silver of King Karl XIV Johan. The same design has been served at every Nobel Banquet since.
The cutlery served at the annual Nobel Prize Banquet, Stockholm
— every year since 1991
Metal, glass, and silver
Gunnar Cyrén studied at Konstfack, Stockholm's University of Arts, Crafts and Design, before joining the legendary Orrefors glassworks in 1959, where he eventually became head of design. His Pop Glass series of the 1960s, with its vivid colored stems, became one of the defining objects of Scandinavian design history.
He worked across glass, silver, and industrial design with rare fluency, and was awarded the Lunning Prize in 1966 — Scandinavia's highest design honor — followed by the Prince Eugen Medal in 1988 and the title of Professor, conferred by the Swedish government in 1992.
The Nobel commission
When the Nobel Foundation came calling for the 90th anniversary, the brief was significant: design a service that would represent Sweden at the world's most globally watched ceremonial dinner. Cyrén drew on the royal table silver of King Karl XIV Johan, blending historic opulence with modern Scandinavian restraint.
Today, Nobel is sold at Bergdorf Goodman in New York and used at every Nobel Banquet in Stockholm. It is the same design you can set on your own table.
Matte and polished steel surfaces play against each other in a deliberate, instantly recognizable contrast — the kind of detail you notice in the hand and again on the plate.
Nobel 20-Piece Cutlery Set
