Erik Höglund studied at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm from 1948 to 53, whereafter he got an internship at the glasswork Boda, where he stayed on as a designer until 1973. The designs of Höglund where often rustic with a bubbly molten glass in bright colors. Höglund’s breakthrough came in 1954 when Boda participated in the exhibition Svenskt Glas (eng. Swedish Glass) at the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm. This granted him a scholarship from Svensk Form which in turn enabled him to travel to Venice and Murano.
In 1955 Höglund participated in the H55 exhibition in Helsingborg, where King Gustaf VI Adolf bought one of his rather sexually explicit engraved glass vases. In 1957 Höglund had his first solo exhibition at Lilla Galleriet where he showed works in glass and crystal, sculptures in bronze, clay and plaster as well as drawings and paintings. For Boda, the exhibition was a huge success that gave them hundreds of orders.
During the same year, Höglund was the recipient of the Lunning Prize, while his works for Boda was also shown at George Jensen’s boutique on Fifth Avenue in New York, which spurred an international repute for both the designer and the glassworks.
In Stockholm Höglund designed mural glass as public ornamentation such as the Kristallglasskogen (eng. The crystal glass forest) in the suburb of Täby. During the late 1950 Höglund was the father of four children but found it hard to find sturdy children’s furniture and hence decided to create some himself. At the family summerhouse in Kopparfly, Småland Höglund found a cabinetmaker working in a local traditional technique and style. The cabinetmaker constructed Höglunds design of turned light pine stools with rounded seats in fabric or leather and often with animalistic shapes and sometimes runners. The furniture soon spread to friends and family who placed orders, and in 1962 the pieces were sold at Lena Larsson’s NK-Bo-Nu in Stockholm.
Höglund was spurred into designing more furniture and interior objects in the folklore style and at the craft exhibition Form Fantasi at Liljevalsch art gallery in Stockholm, Höglund showed a double bed made of turned pine which made quite a stir in the design press. In the 1960’s Höglund began working with traditional metalworkers in Småland, where his designs of chandeliers and candelabras made of iron and glass are the most known.
In the later part of the 1960’s Boda founded a workshops to produce Höglund’s furniture and metalwork called Boda Trä and Boda Metal. From 1965- 66 Boda set out on a travelling exhibition showing Höglund’s glass in the USA, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Great Britain. During a crisis in the Swedish glass industry and debates on the role of the designer, Höglund left Kosta, where he had worked for 20 years.
After spending some time in the USA where he lectured at universities about Swedish craft and glass, he returned to Sweden where he made designs for the glassworks Pukeberg and Lindhammar. In the late 1980’s Höglund returned to glass as a material once again and worked with the glasswork Strömbergs, making colorful and sculptural objects in their Studioglass workshop.
Höglund is represented with glass objects at several museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg and the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm. At the Museum of Furniture Studies, Höglund's pine furniture and mirrors are part of the collection. Erik Höglund passed away in 1998 at the age of 66.
