When Zero was set up in 1978, the founders had much experience – in the use of glass. This experience lead them to leave glass for a while – and start to make lampshades from sheet metal instead. Börge Lindau, the designer, was attracted by the daring idea and began a long-term involvement.

Having somewhat limited resources in the beginning, Börge felt that the choice of material for the first lamps was very important, so that the lamps would be perceived as being new, and attract publicity for their innovative design. So he suggested that a suitable material would be perforated sheet metal, and the decision was finalized. The choice of material then achieved such a success that for the first ten years, almost all the product range consisted of lampshades of all shapes and sizes, made from a variety of types of perforated sheet metal.

Slowly but surely, Zero began to expand and they moved their operations from the garage where they started, to an industrial unit in central Nybro, Sweden. Now there was plenty of space for the company which, after a few years, began to grow at an increasing rate. When Börge phased out his involvement to devote time to Blå Station, his own furniture company, Zero initiated their long-term and fruitful collaboration with another designer, Per Sundstedt. Per got tired of sheet metal and wanted to start designing glass lampshades. The time was right, and Zero’s product range is now dominated by various glass lampshades, many designed by Per Sundstedt, with contributions from other exciting Scandinavian designers such as Thomas Bernstrand, Mattias Ståhlbom, Fredrik Mattson, the Front design group, Mia Gammelgaard etc.