Tag: Scandinavian jewellery

Designer Desire: Anna-Greta Eker

Montage of Anna-Greta Eker jewellery and metal designs

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.

Portrait of Anna-Greta Ekercredit

Additional image credits:
1st Dibs | Bukowskis

Designer Desire: Pentti Sarpaneva

Montage of Pentti Sarpaneva glass and metalware designs | H is for Home

This week, I planned to feature the jewellery designs of Pentti Sarpaneva in our Designer Desire slot. However, I’m also really taken by his glass and metal homeware items – so I’m going with those instead.

Pentti Sarpaneva’s designs – like many of his Norwegian compatriots – are very elemental and brutalist. He uses brass, bronze, silver, gold, amber coloured glass, enamel and semi-precious stones such as agate, amethyst, obsidian and spectrolite.

He designed for Turun Hopea Oy and Kalevala Koru and the Kumela glass factory. You can find examples of his jewellery and homewares on eBay and Etsy.

Sarpaneva (1925-78) is the older brother of the more well-known designer, Timo.

Portrait of Pentti Sarpaneva with his mother and brother, TimoPortrait of Pentti Sarpaneva (left) with his mother and brother, Timo (credit)

Additional image credits:

Bukowskis | Designlasi

Designer Desire: Unn Tangerud

Montage of jewellery designs by Unn Tangerud | H is for Home

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:

Bukowskis | Worthpoint

Designer Desire: Astri Holthe

Montage of Astri Holthe jewellery designs | H is for Home

When last have we featured some vintage Scandi jewellery here on our blog? It’s been too long! It must be something in the water up there – Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark have produced so many outstanding jewellery designers and Astri Holthe is one to include in that assemblage.

Astri Holthe (1917-1998) was a mid-century Norwegian designer-maker specialising in metal. In 1949, she and her husband, Gerhard, founded what would become a very successful factory near the Norwegian town of Arendal in the Barbu valley. Twenty years later, their factory had 90-100 employees.

Many of Holthe’s designs are made of pewter, therefore pieces are very affordable. Vintage pendants can be had for under the £50 mark. You can regularly find examples for sale on eBay and Etsy.

Portrait of Astri Holthecredit

Additional image credits:

Etsy | Pinterest