It’s been another long gap since the last time we added any items to our online shop. We’ve been making the most of the recent good weather – exploring Mid-Wales and occasionally getting out & about buying stock.
Here’s a quartet of some of the vintage things that we’ve listed in the past few days – including an eye-catching Waechtersbach platter – simply click on each image to be taken to the individual item page.
Anna-Greta Eker (1928-2002) was a Scandinavian jewellery and metalwork designer. Born in Åland in Finland. She attended the Ateneum School of Crafts in Helsinki, graduating in 1951. Between 1952 & 1955, Eker worked at Hopea Keskus in Hämeenlinna. Later on, she went to work for Auran Kultaseppä Oy in Turku.
In 1959, she moved to Fredrikstad, Norway where she began making jewellery for Plus, the Applied Arts Centre. That same year, she married Erling Christoffersen who was head of the silver department at the company. They first met 3 years earlier in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany at Staatliche Höhere Fachschule für das Edelmetalgewerbe where they both studied goldsmithing. Plus was established in 1958 and closed in 1978. The aim of the not-for-profit centre was to unite artist and industry.
My favourite of her designs is the Tre series (a few examples are shown in the montage above). The pieces are composed of silver and stained birch, the latter being the national tree of Finland. Tre translates as ‘three’ the number of wooden beads in each set of rows. There would be beautiful kinetic movement when worn.
I also love her Kule series which translates as ‘ball’. The range, which she made from 1962 while working at Plus, consists of sterling silver rings, bracelets and armbands with differing numbers of entwined balls.
This week’s artist, Arthur Dooley, was featured on Antiques Roadshow recently when a member of the public brought in examples of his work to be assessed. We fell in love with his modernist designs.
Arthur Dooley (1929-1994) was a 20th century sculptor and fine artist who hailed from Liverpool. He lived a full and colourful life. He began his working career as a welder at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. In 1945 he enlisted in the Irish Guards, becoming a piper in the regiment’s band. He remained in service for years before going AWOL… to join the Palestine Liberation Army. He was later caught and court-martialed.
After his release, he became a cleaner at Saint Martin’s School of Art, where he enrolled in a course in 1953.
On his return to Liverpool to set up in his own studio, he financed his artistic ambitions by working at the Dunlop rubber factory in Speke and as a park warden for the local constabulary.
His sculptures were mainly religious in nature, constructed from scrap metal or bronze. It was while he was in the forces that he converted to Catholicism.
He produced the stations of the cross to be found in the Grade II listed St Mary’s RC Church in Leyland, Lancashire.
In 1970, he was the subject of an episode of ‘This is Your Life’ (included in our YouTube compilation below).
In 1971 he was commissioned to design a piece of artwork depicting the creation of the atomic bomb, aptly named ‘Splitting the Atom’. He was given ten tons of magnetic steel and two 37-inch pole tips (previously designed by Sir John Cockcroft) taken from the first small cyclotron to operate the USA.
In 1974, he created the first ever statue to commemorate the Beatles which was erected on top of Eric’s Live Bar located in Mathew Street, (of course in) Liverpool. It depicts ‘Mother’ Mary cradling her ‘Babies’, the Beatles.
Also in 1974, he was commissioned by the International Brigade Association and funded by the Trade Unions and the Labour movement to create a statue – La Pasionaria (the Passion Flower) – the nickname of Dolores Ibarruri a Basque freedom-fighter at the forefront of the Republican and Communist movements during the Spanish Civil War. Dooley was a member of the Communist Party.
He made two works for the octagonal Gustav Adolf Church or Scandinavian Seamen’s Church located in Park Lane, Liverpool – ‘Madonna’ and ‘Christ’.
‘Black Christ’ in Princes Park Methodist Church, Toxteth, ‘Dachau’ in St Anne’s, Royton and ‘Madonna and Child’ at St Faith’s, Crosby are more of his works.
Examples of his works come up for sale at auction on occasion.
The 17th of January (the artist’s birthday) is celebrated as Dooley Day with events around his home city.
Additional image credits:
Liverpool Echo | Liverpool Monuments | Liverpool Picturebook | Science and Technology Facilities Council
I’ve received, as a Christmas present from Justin this year, another beautiful specimen to add to my Scandinavian jewellery collection. It’s entitled, ‘Snow Crystal’, and was designed by Unn Tangerud. It can be seen (second row, on the right) in the montage of images above.
Unn Tangerud (b. 1933) spent many years working for Uni David-Andersen, the 4th generation of the David-Andersen jewellery-making family. It was in 1964, while she was working for David-Andersen, that she designed Snow Crystal part of the company’s Troll Series. Also in this series, she designed Unn’s Sun Chariot (second row from the bottom, both left & right).
She worked primarily in silver and bronze using semi-precious stones such as tiger’s eye, amazonite and mylonite. The beautiful mottled pink cabochon stone in my pendant is thulite. The stone was first discovered in 1820 in Sauland, a village in Telemark, Norway. It’s only found in a handful of other locations in the world.
There are a few examples of her jewellery for sale online; check Etsy and eBay.
Image credits:
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