World economics and my hammer

In the middle of a worldwide economic crisis some might say that it is absolutely not the right time to open a new shop presenting luxury goods. Oh well, I’ll be happily naive and go ahead anyway, because I actually believe it is a perfect time.

A wise colleague of mine often say that ‘There is always a need for skilled people’. I keep playing that mantra on my internal player while I keep calm and believe that it’s the right thing to do. 

I am a craftsman and designer and therefore I can create objects with my hands and I posses the skills of innovation and creativity much valued for the future of f.ex. the Danish production industry. 

I can take a piece of material, use my hammer on it and create some value or I can draw a design on my computer, 3d print it, make it a prototype and thereby take the first step towards a larger production.

I know that it’s a drop in the ocean and that I sound a bit like some famous egg-selling lady, but I just love that my metier is so simple that I, by combining new technologies with traditional manufacturing techniques, creativity and good old craftsmanship, can create something valuable out of a piece of raw material.

Koldt ned ad ryggen

I was invited to make a choker for a jewelry exhibition. A choker is a necklace that is very tight around the neck and often very nasty to wear. It comes into fashion every now and then but never seem to hang around for long. Possibly because it isn’t as nice to wear as the very popular sautoir.

Finding it very hard to create such a piece I decided to make a very thin line of silver at the front of the neck and from that; a drop of silver that runs down the back and possibly send shivers down your spine, which is why it’s called ‘Koldt ned ad ryggen’

I’m pleased with the result that can be seen next weekend with lots of other chokers, at the yearly get-togeather of trades people within the gold and silver industry in Denmark, in Bellacenter. After that It’ll be on display at the SAS-hotel at Vesterport. 

Photo: Iben Kaufmann/Eyespice

Summers almost gone...

No no no, not yet!!!! It’s only the beginning of August and we’ve just survived a very rainy July.

I’ve always loved the month of August; being revitalized upon a good long summer holiday and thrilled about the beginning of something new. Enjoying the long warm lazy afternoons in the mild sun, hoping for a round of indian summer. Lots of fine weddings that has to be held before the nordic nature again turn cold and harsh. Plums and pears and lots of ice cream…ohhh yes, ice cream…

I’ve made this ice cream spoon for carrying in your pocket so you don’t have to use the colourfull plastic ones you get at ice cream bars. They are simply too small and too plasticky!

Østerlars

Ever since I was a child, I’ve spend my summer holidays in the beautiful island of Bornholm; a magical place where the sea is very blue, the smoke houses can make silver into gold and the churches are round. I never really noticed the details of the round church of Østerlars as it has just become an iconic image of tourism in Bornholm. But after digging into it and working with the model here, I’ve been intrigued by the interaction between the strict geometrical shapes and the randomness of the supporting pillars.
When the pendant is worn, it looks more like a rocket than a round church, but who knows, maybe rockets will be the next icon for Bornholm.
‘Østerlars’, Sterling silver, Kr. 1200.-, Photo: Camilla Hey

Long Spoons

The world of the new millennium is on ‘fast forward’. The multi media culture offers a huge number of entertainment possibilities, an extreme amount of visual influence and a six-lane information highway and owing to a highly developed mobile technology and fast Internet access, everybody is ‘online’ and ‘in touch’ wherever they go. As an intelligible reaction towards this bombardment of information and the increasing demand of personal availability, people tend to turn their homes into safe shelters; a tendency recognised as ‘cocooning’. Time to oneself has become a luxury, and soft values such as intimacy, veracity and authenticity is highly esteemed within the domestic space.

In the field of foods and drinks, I find that cocooning is recognised in the increasing interest in comfort foods and drinks. One of the most well known is the hot drink ‘Café Latte’, a milk based coffee drink, but also ‘chai latte’, ‘frappuchino’ and various fruit smoothies are popular comfort drinks. Common to these drinks is that they, due to their size, often are served in tall glasses where the long spoon comes in handy. The spoon is mainly used for stirring, but also for enjoying the milk froth or even just as a decorative accessory. This tendency of enjoying comfort drinks within the domestic environment, alone or most likely with a partner or close friend, was the rationale for designing a long silver spoon.

(photo: Dorte Krogh)