Ann Wolff is recognized as one of the founders of the international studio glass movement. She began her art career at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (University for Design and Art) in Ulm, Germany and worked as a designer at the Pukeberg Glasbruk (1960-1964) and the Kosta Boda (1964-1978) glass factories in Sweden. She established an independent studio in Transjö, Kosta, Sweden in 1978. From 1993 to 1998 she was a professor of design at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg and in 2000 established studios in Kyllaj, Gotland and Berlin, Germany. She established the non-profit Ann Wolff Foundation Gotland (AWFG) in 2017.
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Wolff was immediately taken by the freedom of the studio glass movement that developed in the U.S. beginning in the mid-1960s and soon became immersed in the international glass community. Between 1978 and 1998 she taught workshops throughout Europe, the U.S., and Japan, including several sessions as a faculty member at the Pilchuck Glass School. Her solo exhibitions also appeared throughout the world and she was widely awarded, including the 1980 First Prize, Zentralschweizer Glaspreis Kunst, Luzern, Switzerland; 1984 WCC Glassprize, Bratislava, CSSR; 1988 Bayrischer Staatspreis (gold-medal), München, Germany; 1997 Rakow Commission, The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning/NY, USA; 2008 Award of Excellence, Smithsonian Renwick Collections, Washington/DC, USA; and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, GAS (Glass Art Society).
Women and their lives and relationships form the core inspiration for her works, of which she writes: "It is natural to take oneself as one's starting point. The situation of women partly determines who I am and leads me to pose particular questions." In addition to glass, Wolff sculpts in metal, resin, and concrete, as well as creating charcoal and pastel drawings.