At LOD

I took the chance between customers to take these photographs of LOD's Christmas Exhibition, complete with our own traditional 'Julbock'. That's the little goat made of Christmas tree branches, braving the winter chill outside. There's a lot of beautiful, unique jewellery and candle holders this year. 

Stockholm anyone?

I'm heading to Stockholm later on today, and I'm looking forward to working at LOD for the remainder of the week. It'll be lovely to get some of that Christmas spirit at the gallery and feel the excitement in the city.

This sign always makes me smile. It makes it look like Stockholm's just around the corner and not hundreds of kilometers away.

A White Christmas?

Ok ok, I took a few photos of the birds with 'diamonds' too, what can I say, they just looked the part amongst the branches. I think that the white versions are becoming a secret favourite. One extra white bird is coming with me to Stockholm on Wednesday and it's the last one!

Robots in the sky with diamonds

This was a series of photographs that I wanted to take last year, but just didn't get the chance in the run up to Christmas. 2010's photos would have had red and powder blue clouds, but 2011 brought white ones instead.

When I was designing these robots in Göteborg 2010, we had decided on a mechanical theme for LOD's Christmas exhibition. Robots were the first thing to pop into my head. I liked the concept of these little mechanical characters hanging in the air, with sparkling lights glittering and illuminating them like diamonds - and so the concept was born. Robots in the sky with diamonds. Best viewed with a cloud or two hanging in the background, for as we know, cloudy skies are a common sight on the West Coast.

Setting the scene

Setting the scene with handsawn silver napkin rings at the table. My aim is to extend this design into stainless steel so that these can be produced in a small scale series.

Another idea is to combine seven stainless steel napkin rings with one silver ring as a 'set', so that for special occasions, the person that is being celebrated gets to have the silver ring at their place.

Kvist armbands

 

Two variants from this collection. A mini version and a medium width. I've been making a catalogue for LOD this week and whilst working with a lot of different images, I realised that I haven't written about these silver armbands.  

The original drawings were based on intertwining twigs and the graphics that they created. After many re-workings, the feeling of interlocking branches has become an abstract design. There's just a hint of where the design originates from, especially when the drawings are translated into silver. I've actually never done an oxidised version of this design, but perhaps black intertwining lines would resemble the original hedges in the fog that was the beginning to this whole collection?

Snow Flowers

I love the whiteness of silver with little accents of shine and colour.

Distinctive Lines

These necklaces are part of a collection inspired by the intertwined branches of hedges and trees, which initially isn't the most obvious.  I thought about these designs this morning when everything outside was coated in a thin, slightly glittering frosty layer and just then the connection was tangible.

Cocktail rings but no glass

Cocktail rings, but no glass. Well in the photos at least. It's the party season and these rings feel like they would be the perfect accessory to a little black dress. I've not had the chance to road test that yet, but wouldn't mind trying!

Ma Belle

Heather bells have become somewhat of a recurring thing in my life since I noticed them growing wild on the slopes of the Cobbler. Tiny perfectly formed flowers that weather the extremities of mountain slopes yet appear so fragile. A nice contradiction.

It wasn't until the springtime the following year that they reappeared and were everywhere in the streets of Stockholm. In pots, on the doorsteps of florists but nonetheless heralding the onset of spring. The Autumn brought a new wave on the streets of Göteborg like a resurgent sign. But it was a conversation that I had with my cousin Lynn that triggered the first drawing and the beginning of a necklace.

Ma Belle is the name given to these two unique necklaces inspired by a string of events, strong characters and mountain flowers.

Limited Edition

The brass birds are winging their way to Stockholm tomorrow and accompanying them are a few limited edition white and black birds. Hopefully they should arrive at LOD on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. I took this photograph before they got their red ribbons on, but they look almost as nice without.

A new take on an old favourite

These armbands are one of my favourite designs, both to make and to wear. This is the first time that I have made bracelets from the smaller button units and there are just three in this series. Two oxidised and one in white. For some reason the white one eluded a photograph at the weekend, so it's just the oxidised ones taking precedence today.

A little tip for those of you who are in Stockholm this evening. Klara Eriksson has her vernissage together with Tove Thambert at the lovely Gallery Pascale from six oclock. 'Hemligheter' in the heart of the capital - read more at http://www.gallerypascale.com/

Silver in small scale

The photographs don't give a hint of the scale but these little sculptural necklaces are small and delicate, measuring only a centimetre or two. They are the latest designs from the Park-Life collection which takes it name from a photoshoot last year in a Victorian Park in Scotland and from the sense of Victoriana that these pieces embody.

Love Birds for Christmas

Here is a little preview of my Christmas decoration design for LOD's Jul Utställning which opens on Saturday 3rd December. These little birds are avaliable in stainless steel and in brass and are inspired by the theme of 'Wings'. Here's an excerpt from the vernissage kort just in case you didn't get one in your letter box.

'WINGS'
Birds, airplanes, seeds and butterflies.
Silver wings, steel wings, angel wings........

Read more about what's happening at LOD on Saturday at http://www.lod.nu/

Rabbits in the snow

Driving back from Stockholm last night brought the first flurry of wet snow for this season. Not quite the powder white blanket snow encapsulated in this Christmas light, which was the second in the series.

Christmas is in the air.....

With all the preparations for the upcoming Christmas exhibition at LOD I thought I'd take a moment to share my Christmas candleholder from a few years ago. A simple yet effective design in powder-coated metal.

It's all birds and clouds on the bench whilst the sketches for this year's candleholder are still on the drawing board. It's looking promising if it can all come together.

Jag Flyger Till Dig

Christmas is fast approaching and yesterday 2011's tree decorations arrived in flat pack in preparation for the Christmas exhibition at Galleri LOD.

Our theme this year is 'wings' and I've chosen to make a little bird in flight. I'll be constructing these little creations later today and will let you see the result alongside colourful clouds for an inspiring twist to a traditional Christmas Tree.

Engraving with Pierce

We had a wonderful engraving course at LOD last weekend. What an inspirational day! Engraving was a really satisfying technique and very direct - like drawing but slower and more controlled.

That's us learning how to sharpen the gravers and how to pick the tool up so that it's held correctly when engraving. Oh and that's my first bit of engraving there.

Corresponding Graphics In Unexpected Places

I've been noticing beautiful graphics all over the place of late and in quite unexpected locations. This little bottle top stood out on this drenched forest trail whilst we were out walking at the weekend. Someone's trash is another's treasure. A little beacon of nice design.

The significance of a dot

The dot can be a symbol for something or someone. One dot or several to represent family members or simply just a pattern?