I may have found a working solution and would appriciate
comments if this is a possible / recommended approach:

Problem:
Client = locked to UTF8
Server FB2.1 = Collation in UTF8 can not be localized (sv_se)

Possible solution:
create db with utf8
on char/varchar, CHARACTER SET WIN1252 COLLATE PXW_SWEDFIN

fb reports back what seems like utf8 to client.
sorting is CI and localized. Tested with flamerobin and over odbc/ms-
access.

Good or evil?