ULLA DARNI

(1937 - 2022)

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Ulla Darni is as vivid as her art.  She was born in Denmark where she began her art career as a teen, with a four-year apprenticeship at Royal Copenhagen Porcelain.  "It was great training," she says, "Once you can control a brush, you can paint what is in front of you and what is within you."

In addition to he career as a porcelain painter, her luck, beauty and vivacious personality led to a career in acting.  Ulla worked performed on stage and worked in movies for seven years alongside international stars, the culmination of which was a co-starring role in the Cannes award-winning film, The Duel.

In 1962,  Darni moved to New York City, where she channeled her endless creativity into her next career as a fashion designer, selling couture, hand-made dresses in her two boutiques.

Ulla began studying with Albert Handel and Daniel Green; then with David Lefell at New York's Art Student League.  Ulla won numerous prizes and artistic recognition leading to election to New York's prestigious Pen and Brush Club and the Salmagundi Club for her paintings on canvas.

A chance visit by an antique dealer in 1989 led Ulla to reverse painting on glass. Her colorful, artistically-rendered lamps were stunning, unique and quickly became highly sought after.

This business success led to representation in galleries and installations throughout the world and to the introduction to her husband and business manager, glass sculptor Lawry Swidler, in 2000.

Demand for Ulla's chandeliers, table lamps, floor lamps, sconces and other unique installations led to the creation of a studio at their Catskill Mountain home, where Ulla and her staff brought her illuminated visions to life until she passed in 2022.

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