Sterling silver modernist jewellery from Finland – a timeless design classic
When I was growing up in the 1970s, it was almost an article of faith in our house that anything designed after WWII was ugly. And to be fair, some of it was – anyone remember those 1970s carpets patterned with migraine-inducing swirls of brown, orange and yellow? Or polystyrene ceiling tiles? (I’ve got one word for those: why?) But over the last few years, I’ve been rethinking my assumptions about mid-twentieth century design. Nowadays when I visit boot fairs and second hand shops, it’s always the stuff from the 1950s – 1970s that draws me in, and makes me think “hmm, a lot of the pieces of furniture and household items from that period were actually pretty good”. In fact, I often find myself preferring it to pieces from the 19th century and earlier.
In particular, I’ve started a love affair with mid-20th century modernist vintage silver jewellery – especially jewellery made by Scandinavian designers, and most especially Finnish makers. For the most part, it’s a love affair I engage in from a distance, but I do own a couple of pieces of Finland silver jewellery and really enjoy wearing them. What I like about them is (a) that they make a statement, without being “blingy” or fussy, and (b) the fact that they were made with enormous craftsmanship and attention to detail by people who understood that it’s not just about shapes, but the spaces between shapes. (If you get my drift.)
Silver cup ring by Kupittaan Kulta
Dangle ring, also by Kupittaan Kulta
Finnish silver jewellery often features beautiful semi-precious stones like amethyst, labradorite, carnelian and chrysoprase (a type of chalcedony), which has the most stunning apple green colour. Furthermore, a lot of Finnish pieces are very tactile and the stones are often “kinetic”, i.e. they move around inside an artfully designed silver “cage”, or dangle from a suitable loop or anchor. This is great if you’re a “kinaesthetic” person like me who sometimes needs to have something to fiddle with in order to help you think!
Hallmarks on Finnish silver jewellery
Hallmarks on Finland silver jewellery look different to British ones (the ones I’m used to), but they’re actually pretty similar once you analyse them: like British silver, you will find a date mark, a town mark, a country mark and a maker’s or manufacturer’s mark. You’ll also find a separate purity mark, e.g. “925” for sterling silver, or “830” for silver that’s 83% pure. The country mark for Finland is a crown inside a heart if the item was actually made in Finland, while a crown inside an oval shows that it’s been imported. The date mark – which is usually but not always on the right – consists of a letter and a number, e.g. “U7” for 1973. The higher the number, the more recent the date (the modern numbering system began in 1835 with “B2”, followed by C2, D2 etc. then A3, B3, C3… the year 2010 would therefore be I9). Town marks include a boat for Helsinki, a castle for Hämeenlinna and a sort of funny letter A for Turku (I would love to know what this mark actually represents – anyone know?). Finnish maker’s/manufacturer’s marks are many and varied as you’d imagine, so to make things easier I’ve listed them in the next section alongside the maker’s name.
Finnish silver makers/manufacturers to look out for
Below are the more famous Finnish companies that made silver jewellery in the 1950s-1970s. Some are still going today. To make life a bit easier I’ve listed the companies in alphabetical order. In case you were wondering, the letters “Oy” translate as “Co” in English.
Auran Kultaseppä Oy. Maker’s mark is the head of a bird of prey. This is one of the companies I don’t know much about, so any reliable info would be enormously helpful.
Erik Granit (1930 – 1988). Began making jewellery in Helsinki in the 1950s. Maker’s mark is the letters E and G inside a diamond shape, or E. Granit.
Finnfeelings. Founded towards the end of the 1960s by Karl Laine (not to be confused with Jorma Laine – see below) and Hans Sten. Silver jewellery designed by Sten and Laine often has a sort of brutalistic, carved-out-of-stone-or-concrete feel to it. Personally I love it, although it’s not to everybody’s taste! In keeping with the brutalistic theme, the maker’s mark is a stylised wave with three jagged points.
Karl Laine ring with “KL” initials clearly visible
Kalevala Koru Oy. Maker’s mark is two letter K’s, either back to back (and joined together) or facing the same way. Founded by Elsa Heporauta in 1935 and still going today.
Kaunis Koru. Company was founded in 1956, and is now a subsidiary of Kalevala Koru. Again, Kaunis Koru designs have the modernistic curviness that I associate with Kupittaan Kulta stuff. Confusingly, this maker also has two back-to-back letter Ks as its maker’s mark, although these are not joined together as for Kalevala Koru and form a sort of butterfly shape. Even more confusingly, Kaunis Koru stuff does sometimes use the old “k k” mark of Kalavala Koru.
Kultakeskus Oy. Maker’s mark is a lion lying down inside a hexagon. Designers who worked for this company include Liisa Vitali, Tapio Wirkkala and Nanny Still.
Kultaseppa Salovaara (sometimes I’ve seen this spelled Kultasepät Salovaara). Founded in the 1950s. Designs are similar in overall “feel” to Kupittaan Kulta. Maker’s mark: a polar bear on an iceberg.
Kultateolisuus Ky. Maker’s mark is a hammer with wings. I don’t know much about them so again, any reliable info would be greatly appreciated.
Kupittaan Kulta. Maker’s mark: an anvil. The cat pendant, the dangle ring, the chrysoprase ring and the ring with the ball-filled “cup” shown in the pics are all by Kupittaan Kulta. Founded just after WWII by Elis Kauppi (1921 – 2004). Also made gold jewellery.
Kupittaan Kulta cat pendant
Kupittaan Kulta “cage” pendant with sunstone
Lapponia. Founded in 1960, and still going today. Most famous designer working for Lapponia is Björn Weckström (b. 1935), who made use of unusual materials like acrylic for his jewellery designs. Maker’s mark: the word “LAPPONIA” (nice and simple for once).
Pair of Lapponia earrings
Torun Hopea. Designers who worked for Torun Hopea include Pentti Sarpaneva and Jorma Laine (1930 – 2002). As well as silver, this company did a lot of designs in bronze. Maker’s mark for Torun Hopea is the letters T and H superimposed on each other.
Where to find Finland silver jewellery
You might not be surprised to hear that vintage Finnish silver jewellery doesn’t crop up often at your local boot fairs, auctions or estate sales (although you will strike lucky occasionally). Online is probably a better place to look – try eBay for starters. Etsy.com, which is best known for handmade stuff, also has a vintage section with a large choice of jewellery. There are also dedicated web sites such as allmodern.de (German) and scandinaviansilver.co.uk (British). Wherever you decide to look, enjoy the search.
© Silver Snake July 2010 (This article formerly appeared on Hub Pages)
Useful links
KalevalaKoru.com – history of the company
Scandinavianjewelry.blogspot.co.uk: info about Finnfeelings
Worthpoint.com entry giving biographical info about Elis Kauppi
kultanuoli.fi: more info about Finnish hallmarks
effie-graa.com: another useful site giving info about maker’s marks
Graciousgood blog post featuring some fascinating publicity material from Finnish silver makers