Odin and Tor

We just got the Odin - now we just need Frøya! These are carved by Henning of Norway. The Tor is older and has a much rougher carving style, which I like. The base of it is marked with two stamps that read "Carved by hand in Norway". The newer Odin is marked "Henning Carved by hand in Norway".

Otto Sveen Trolls

We figured out who the artist was who carved our old lady troll, and then found this guy. He doesn't have the OS signature on the bottom, but we're pretty sure it's also by Otto Sveen. Otto's brother Anton was also a wood carver, but we don't think this is one of his.

Digsmed Lazy Susan Tray

I gave this Digsmed lazy susan tray to my partner for Christmas.  There are eight small glass dishes, each marked "Made in Denmark," that rest on a tray that spins while the top platform stays stationary.  

The candlesticks are German, by Goberg.

Dansk Nutcracker

I love this over-the-top design for a nutcracker.  I should have put something next to it for scale, because it's quite large - more like a nut-destroyer, maybe.  Designed by Jens Quistgaard and produced by Dansk.

Dansk Staved Teak Bowl

Staved teak bowl by Dansk and designed by Jens Harald Quistgaard.  I love how the shape of the bowl looks like a letter "O."

Bing and Grøndahl Drop Ornament

The Bing and Grøndahl ornament from 1986, and a wooden Viking ship ornament.

Wooden Christmas

Prillar-Guri

Another one of our bargain purchases at the day-after-Thanksgiving Scandinavian warehouse sale.  This is an older Henning carving from Norway.

Vikings

The little guy in the center is a viking by Rolf Berg of Sweden.  I don't know who made the wooden viking - I found it at a Scandinavian importer's warehouse sale.  The big viking was made by Maigons Daga in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Daga was a ceramic artist who primarily made animals and used very nice, organic glazes, which elevated his pieces to an artistic level.  Most of his pieces are mounted on a piece of stone or wood.  This is my first non-Scandinavian piece posted here - Daga was from Latvia and worked for a time in Adelaide, Australia before moving to Minneapolis in 1954 and opening his studio in 1970.  His distinctive style and glaze techniques are very at home with the works of other Scandinavian ceramicists, though.

The Rolf Berg viking is an early piece, as evident by the hand-incised RB on the base.  Daga signed almost all of his pieces with his last name written on the bottom of the stone (or wood) base, and also usually in the glaze on the bottom of the pottery pieces.

Nibblies

The snacks we had had tonight before dinner for my parents' birthday.

Brunost on our new Dansk cheese board, with herring in cream sauce in an Elle bowl from Norway; a white bean dip (basically a hummus but with white beans instead of garbanzo beans) in a newer Porsgrund bowl with butterflies with pita chips on a Hadeland glass plate.  And Ikea napkins!