Tag: Norway

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

Designer Desire: Egersund

Various ceramic designs from Egersund

This post was initially going to be about Kåre Blokk Johansen. However, so little is known about him and his designs that we’ve expanded it to include a couple of other Egersund designers. The pottery was in existence from 1847 to 1979, but we’re going to concentrate (mainly) on the mid-century modern designs.

Similar to Finel, shapes would often be designed by one designer and the pattern would be by another. For example, the Solsikke (Sunflower) and Lagune (Lagoon) patterns were applied to the Korulen shape. The Chérie pattern was done on the Circle shape.

What we do know, however, is that the popular Razorbill ‘alkemuggen’ (top) were designed by Jacob Kielland Sømme. They were available in five sizes and produced almost continuously from 1910 to 1979.

Blokk Johansen, the longest serving designer at the company, was responsible for the Unique (manufactured between 1971 and 1976) and Kongo patterns.

Unni Margrethe Johnsen (1942-2001) designed the patterns Lagune (Lagoon) and Solsikke (Sunflower).

Ingrid Marcussen designed the pretty Chérie pattern in 1966.

We have a few Egersund items for sale in our shop at the moment. There are also some available on eBay and Etsy.

If you can help fill in some of the blanks (or errors) in our knowledge, we’d appreciate your insight!

Shapes/patterns (from top to bottom, left to right):

• Razorbill ‘alkemuggen’ – Jacob K. Sømme
• Shape unknown/Inka
• Shape unknown/2 x Kongo
• Shape unknown/Cairo
• Shape unknown/Perfekt (Perfect)
• Shape unknown/Perfekt Sirkel (Perfect Circle)
• Korulen/pattern unknown
• Korulen/Solsikke (Sunflower)
• Unique/pattern unknown
• Unique/Appel (Apple)
• Circle/Chérie
• Korulen/Lagune (Lagoon)

Image credits:

Heidi Arstad | Tove

Designer Desire: Theodor Kittelsen

Mosaic of Theodor Kittelsen artworks

Theodor Kittelsen is the perfect artist to feature at this time of year. As you can tell from the works we’ve chosen above, Kittelsen (1857–1914) was fond of producing wintery, Christmassy scenes. Many of his illustrations would have been fairly frightening to young children. He painted trolls, the wild outdoors and scenes from fairy tales and Norwegian folklore.

In 2017, his work was commemorated with a Google Doodle on his 160th birthday – here it is:

As Kittelsen would have said, “God Jul” and “Godt nytt år”!

Theodor Kittelsen self-portrait

Scandinavian pottery picks

Trio of Scandinavian pottery items: Egersund, Rorstrand and Gustavsberg | H is for Home

Having not found any for a while, we’ve picked up some very nice pieces of vintage Scandinavian pottery recently. And hailing from Scandinavia isn’t all they have in common. Gorgeous, colourful patterns also link them!

Small vintage Egersund lidded casserole pot with daisy decoration | H is for Home

Up first, we have the pretty yellow daisies on a lidded dish produced by Egersund of Norway.

Vintage Arabia Sirpa salt pot with blue heart and flower decoration | H is for Home

Then we have blue hearts and flowers of the Sirpa pattern designed by Raija Uosikkinen on this lovely salt pot by Arabia of Finland.

Vintage Gustavsberg bowl - Bersa pattern designed by Stig Lindberg | H is for Home

And finally, one of our favourite designs – the repeating, stylised green leaves of this Bersa bowl produced by Gustavsberg of Sweden – designed by the wonderful Stig Lindberg, of course.

So, three different countries of manufacture however, a distinct collective look. And if you really like them, check out our webshop – at least two of these pieces will be appearing for sale very soon.