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b y   M a g g i e   S n e l l

More years ago than I care to remember - OK, 33, but who's counting? - a young college student offered to make me an engagement ring. My only regret, even with 50/50  hindsight, is that I didn't hang around long enough to at least see the ring. It was to be phosphor bronze with an emerald flush mounted from underneath.

Bronze/copper/brass forms a minimal part of my collection.  Not from  choice - I love the stuff - but there doesn't seem to be much of it about. And the most prolific producers in the 1950/70 period seemed to live in Finland for reasons that will be revealed later.

We're talking cult Finnish designer Bjorn Weckstrom, featured in the previous issue, who produced a "Flame Bronze" range in the 70s and explored industrial themes and gave each design a memorable and evocative name.

Pentti Sarpeneva, brother of the more famous Timo, also played with bronze, often warming it up with amethyst, rose and smoke quartz, all natural stones found in his homeland, whilst Seppo Tamminen more often worked with brass. These two combined modern with revival of ancient or at least traditional styles. Jorma Laine is also a name to be reckoned with. And there are probably scores of others whose names haven't (as yet) stood the test of time.

Though Finland personified the "bronze" look, Patrick Kapty told me  about some American designers who also used these metals to create interesting work.

Peggy Miller, who possibly studied with Betty Cooke in Baltimore, fabricated in brass and ebony in the 50s and 60s and brass featured in the 70's work of Norma Flanagan, a Greenwich Village artist. And if you want OTT, check out a brass ring with a huge chunk of quartz by "Arthur Court SF (San Francisco?) Design".

Helen Drutt, in her book "Jewelry of Our Time" called Olaf Skoogfors - his surname means "forest stream" - one of the two or three most important jewellery designers of the 60s and 70s working in the area of abstractionism. He frequently exhibited and won numerous awards, including a grant from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. Prestigious museums in the USA, Canada and Europe own examples of his work.

The confidently-crafted bronze buckle from the 70s pictured here admirably demonstrates our theme and may have retro'd to his Swedish roots. He arrived on American shores as a four year old in 1934, re-invented himself by changing his name from Gustav Olaf Jansson (or did his mother re-marry?), and died unfairly young in 1975.

But this article is aimed at those of you who like to spot a trend.

The next stage would/should have been 1956 had the war not intervened. Though 50's style was a kind of poor man's Deco, it was about 1964 when retro Deco developed into its own confidant, very confident, style. If memory serves me right, there were three distinct fashion periods in the 60s starting with the Jackie Kennedy look, through the Pierre Cardin-inspired Space look in mid-decade, then ethnic, hippie, flower power and all that to take us into the 70s.

So my theory in the late 80s was that the next "new" development would be on board by 1996. We would retro to the 60s before creating a new post-millennium style as distinct, original and exciting as Nouveau, Deco and the 60s that preceded it.

In London "designer" shops contemporary gold and silver jewellery is diminutive, twiddly, insignificant and to my mind very boring. Gold now is so expensive, some consider it ostentatious and, maybe, people are afraid to openly wear bold gold pieces on city streets. The 30s and the 60s, personified by silver and steel, were stark, hard edged,in your face, iconoclastic and cool. Where do we go from here? I'm writing this while watching the Sydney 2000 Olympics on TV. Everyone wants gold, will settle for silver, and somehow the third-place bronze seems almost an apologetic consolation prize for simply making an effort.

And fashion will demand a warmth and presence, interesting yet individual, and not overly expensive.. In past times people used to wear their wealth (their gold) in order to impress others. Now we're talking we're talking style over substance - quick change designer fashion. And if I were a young jewellery designer starting out and looking to push the boundaries with the big, the bold and the beautiful, I'd certainly give the bronze/copper/brass-coloured route a try.

After all, there is precedence. Just look at what the innovative and creative artists in the latter part of the last century were able to accomplish.

Copyright: Maggie Snell - maggie@ismacs.u-net.com

Vanessa Paterson of Retrogallery in the UK offers the following historical background on the innovative use of bronze by 60s/70s Finnish jewellery designers

N O T H I N G   N E W   U N D E R   T H E   S U N

b y   V a n e s s a   P a t e r s o n

Though gold is a natural resource in the north of the country, many Finnish designers turned to bronze, as this material was easily available to them at little cost. It proved a great medium to work with as casting was easy and designs could be produced on a large scale.

Text Copyright © Maggie Snell and Vanessa Paterson
Photographs courtesy  Maggie Snell, Patrick Kapty, and Marbeth Schon
Web design by Marbeth Schon

Design Copyright ©Modern Silver Magazine October 2000