By Jenny Ekberg
My grandmother Sonja Hahn-Ekberg (post coming soon!) was a world-renown textile artist. Her medium was Thai silk thread, and she taught me and my best friend Isabell to make bracelets using her technique. I remember us giggling, posing for the camera with our creations; one of the best afternoons of my fleeting teenage hood.
I have had Thai silk scraps sitting around for ages, and suddenly I had an urge to try it. I bundled the scraps into my backpack and headed to the beach. At night, by candlelight, I pulled them out.
After 5 minutes, dangerously close to the flame, I was hooked. I know now that I will never stop. My first test strip is a far cry from the shimmering silk sheets my grandmother created, but it is a start.
We have had a few people telling us that they found it hard to find photos of our jewellery in our blog. Therefore, we have now made a gallery page where you can see examples of our jewellery made by Jenny Ekberg. We will update the page when we make new collections. You can access the page through the “our collections” tab in the black menu above, or via this blog post.
Hopefully it will now be easier to find our work in the maze of the World Wide Web.
Thank you,
Jenny and team.
Please click on the images to get to the galleries.
Just finished this necklace after tweaking, re-shaping and re-patinating for the millionth time; my version of the obligatory dream catcher necklace. I made it in fine silver using the same techniques as for my Kashgar ring, and with LOTS of effort and help from my husband managed to set this irregular cluster of amethyst crystal tips, as dark as the darkest violets in a springtime forest.
So, here are the facts: Material? fine silver, amethysts, liver of sulphur patina Inspiration? architecture in Kashgar, China How long did it take? About 3 months (note that I can only work at the bench a stolen night here and there) For who? Myself this time!
It is 00.30 so I better go to sleep. Outside the darkness is like black velvet and the poodles are howling at possums jumping on the roof like drunken ghosts.
Good night!
By Jenny Ekberg
There is something about horse shoes. How can something so rustic feel so magical?
As a child in Sweden, I would watch in awe my practical, earthy grandparents turn silent and supersticial when stumbling over a rusty horse shoe digging in their garden. Inspired by old Central Asian Turkoman silver necklaces, and by jewellery artist Pamela Love (see my post about Pamela here), I suddenly got an urge to make my own spiked horse shoes. These are my first attempts; one in fine silver, one in bronze. Already, they are amongst my most worn pieces of jewellery; they are extremely versatile and do feel a little magical, actually.
Left: bronze horse shoe necklace with varigated silk cord. Right: Fine silver spiky horse shoe necklace, and real old horse shoe from India in my bedroom.
I have come to Aireys inlet a few times now, and each time it is like all the stress drains out of my body as soon as I have climbed the hill up to the lighthouse. The view is breathtaking; the blue sky and the blue ocean; all different shades of blue. The fresh smell of seasalt, dry wood and spices. As I inhale the healing air, The Lighthouse Song (one of my absolute favourite Aussie songs, btw!) by Josh Pyke starts to play in my head.
I just had to make a necklace inspired by the colours. I had some ancient African trade beads resembling light bulbs; they are truly unique. The material resembles sea glass that has been polished by the ocean for a very long time, and the subtle irregular swirls look like the ocean bed. The beads have so much history and have been touched by so many hands; they were made in the early 1900s in Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic) for trade with Mali, where brides would wear them on their wedding day. I bought them from a Malinese lady; she said that she thought they were really old-fashioned, but I absolutely love them. For me, they really capture the essence of the Great Ocean Road.
Up near the lighthouse, we visited the Old Stables cafe; this is my favourite cafe in the whole world, seriously. The atmosphere is casually bohemian, and the chai tea is to die for. They also sell wonderful hand made home decorations, clothes and bags and I always buy something, to have a little piece of the Great Ocean Road in my suitcase when I go back home.
The view from the lighthouse; my husband and kids on the beach, and My Favourite Cafe In The Whole Wide World.
I love our new range of jewellery that has been plated with matte 22 karat gold; it is sleek and sophisticated but still with our usual edge. The different necklaces in the series look amazing layered and also look great with silver; the mixed metal look is still huge this season as you might have noticed if you have been checking out the scene at NY fashion week.
These and many more are now available online atOak Mountain JewelleryI am really excited about all the new jewellery in our shop!!
Deluxe woven chain bracelets, cute one-of-a-kind Swedish cottages (I make one every time I’m homesick), geometric matte gold necklaces, fingerprint jewellery and – my favourite – very special mokume gane pieces.
Available now in our shop Oak Mountain Jewellery .Mokume gane is an old Japanese technique for creating mixed-metal woodgrain patterns. Thanks to Hadar Jacobson, I have learned to make such patterns from metal clay. I just had to try making my own metal clays of traditional Japanese alloys to incorporate in this work and have now successfully made both shibuichi and shakudo clays by mixing commercially available clays in gold, silver and copper. I am really happy with the result, but it took forever to get it right… I can’t really afford metal clays at the moment so this technique will be an occasional treat to myself.
My latest addiction: woven chain bracelets (and necklaces). I use lots of different threads/cord and matte, shiny, delicate & chunky chain to make these super trendy accessories.
… in the city of Churches! I will ship it to a gal down in Adelaide today…
I LOOOOVE the modern take on art deco that is so huge now, and I particularly love matte gold. I made this necklace made from a vintage raw brass art deco finding and a sleek matte gold chain.
Jenny Ekberg Jewellery 