Crystals, Leather and Silks - Oh My!

Throughout my travels I often find things that I feel the need to share with others. Whether it be food, fabrics, paintings or clothing I always try my best to give my readers a taste of Scandinavia. My last discovery was on a trip to the midwest and was something of an accident. I traveled to Minot, North Dakota for a few days to show some support to my friends at the Norsk Hostfest. Throughout my trip, I blogged about all the interesting food and crafts available - but I missed on one of the best things there! Swed Art is a company based out of.. you guessed it - Sweden. They produce handmade jewelry (I am quite partial to the bracelets), made from nickel-free, and chrome-free Reindeer leather. The jewelry is handmade by indigenous Sami and Lapland artisans from Sweden. Braids. The bracelets unite a captivating concoction of pewter or copper wire mixed with leather, silk, Swarovski crystals, silver, gold, and glass. Word on the street is celebs (Ahem, Ahem Sheryl Crow) can't wait to get their hands on these.





SwedArt’s™ aboriginal Sami artisans reside near the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. Sami's have a 10,000 year old history and most lived in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The original tribes lived on the land before the rest of the Scandinavians arrived. There are 17,000 Sami (formerly called Laplanders) in Sweden today. Approximately 3,000 own reindeer herds, sometimes with thousands of domesticated reindeer (caribou), and reindeer husbandry is their livelihood. Only Sami can own reindeer in Sweden so the company supports the small indigenous Sami People by buying products made of traditional Sami materials like reindeer leather and reindeer antler. Their unique craft items are admired and sought after worldwide.Sami embroidery with pewter wire on reindeer leather and fabric has been done for hundreds of years in the Sami culture, and Sami actually invented the spun pewter wire. In the old days, they melted tin to make the wire and then spun it around reindeer sinew entirely by hand. Today, the wires are spun on a small machine. Unique bracelets and necklaces made of reindeer (caribou) leather .