Swedish Tomte

More Christmas before it's boxed away

The Christmas tree came down this weekend and is now at the curb.  Here are a few more pictures of Christmas to tide us over until next year.

The tomte is by Rolf Berg from Sweden.  The blue and white ball is a Royal Copenhagen ornament.

More bits of Christmas

More pictures of Christmas before it's all taken down for the season.  We found several little wooden guys this year that were fun.  The two wooden guys are from Silas Tonttukylä in Finland.  The Christmas balls are from Crate and Barrell and are Sanna Annukka's Taikamylly pattern, which is the same as the tablecloth in the last picture.  The ceramic tomte is made by Nittsjö, and might be designed by Rolf Berg (he has done other designs for Nittsjö that are very similar to this).

Lisa Larson Candle Boy

We stumbled on this in an antique store this weekend for a bargain!

Rolf Berg Tomte med Måne

Today is our dog Bongo's 6th birthday.  Happy Birthday Bongo!

Christmas Decorations

One of our kitchen shelves with a Nittsjö bird, Rolf Berg tomte, and a Rörstrand covered pot.  Tomorrow the tree is coming down, really.  We got these two flag ornaments this year - the Norwegian flag for my heritage, and the Italian flag for my partner.

Lisa Larson Tomte

My mom's Lisa Larson tomte (or would it be nisse?).  The picture of the base is delightfully blurry...but it says Lisa L, K-Studion, Gustavsberg, Sweden.

Rolf Berg Tomte Ornament

Christmas Decorations

We put the Marimekko Kanteleen Kutsu cards in little frames and used the sticky 3M hooks to hang them on the wall (we really wanted some of the fabric, but the cards are a bit more affordable!).  Some of Christmas-themed Rolf Berg tomten are on the sideboard.

Lisa Larson Tomte

This was a gift from my mom.  We had him for several years before we really became aware of (and obsessed with collecting) Lisa Larson.

Royal Copenhagen Nisse by Harald Wiberg

Christmas is coming!

Black Friday Finds

Our day-after-Thanksgiving shopping is much more low-key than the crazy 4:00 AM sales.  Since I was little (sometime in the 1970s), we have gone to a warehouse sale put on by a Scandinavian importer.  When it first started, their shop was in an old building near downtown, and the basement was filled with boxes of goods - Porsgrund, tomten, candles, straw ornaments - and I remember often being the only people there. They have since moved to larger buildings in the suburbs and their sales are attended by many more people.  The tradition lately has us starting at the warehouse sale, and then going to our local Scandinavian gift shop, Ingebretsen's, so look for anything else we might "need," and to see what kind of deals we got.  My grandma always used to buy little wood and fabric tomten to give to us kids, and every year I still buy one for myself in her memory.  Here's this year's:

And this is one of our impulse bargains.  A Porsgrund pitcher with the Freia chocolate company logo.  The date on the bottom looks like 1994.

Rolf Berg Tomte and Horse

Taken with my Diana 120-mm camera.

Rolf Berg Tomte - Friday Fun

Friday Fun

Many years ago my grandma started collecting Rolf Berg tomtes.  I inherited her collection, and have added to it over the years.  Rolf Berg has a studio and shop in Torshälla, Sweden.  Nearly all of his pieces are marked with a stylized RB on the base, and many have a sticker with his name, and "Torshälla, Sweden."  His older work has a definite hand-made quality with angular lines by the eyes that appear hand-carved, while more recent pieces are much smoother.  I certainly love them all, though.