A jewel of the north
- Göran designs and creates silver and gold jewellery
- Kristallen, his uncle’s workshop, was where it all started
- He now teaches goldsmithing and stone polishing at Kristallen
Göran Söderström’s interest in jewellery making has always been there, since his teenage years. “The first time I really understood that silver and gold were ‘my materials’ was when I joined a course at Kristallen in Lannavaara, a workshop and company founded by my uncle. That week meant a lot to me, because I saw all the potential of working with metals,” he says. It was then that Göran started out in jewellery designing, making and stone polishing. A long apprenticeship awaited him after that, but he eventually succeeded in his goal of becoming a goldsmith. He now has his own workshop in Lannavaara, a small village located above the Arctic Polar Circle, where he designs and creates gold and silver jewellery with gemstones, as well as teaching stone polishing and goldsmithing at Kristallen.
Interview
- After your first steps at Kristallen, did you train elsewhere?
- That was just the beginning. I took a two-year course in silversmithing and jewellery making at Leksands folkhögskola, in the Swedish region of Dalarna. Then I attended the goldsmith school in Copenhagen, becoming a qualified goldsmith. I also practised at the renowned Juhls silver gallery in Kautokeino, northern Norway.
- When did you start your own company?
- My workshop is located in Lannavaara, the small village where I was born. I opened it in 1998, but at that time I was working full time as a teacher at Kristallen. My own company became more active in 2006, and it still is.
- What inspires you the most?
- Life! I am inspired by everything I do, trips I make, the people I meet, but also the nature I live in. Sometimes I find a nice stone and see what I can do with it. Some of my inspiration comes from Sami culture and traditions, which happens to be my cultural identity too.
- Which techniques do you like to use?
- I like to combine classic and innovative approaches, being a traditional goldsmith who creates wedding rings but also an artisan who designs totally different, unique things. For example, I find stone setting and filigree very interesting, but sometimes I cast jewellery out of a seed or a flower.
Göran Söderström is a master artisan: he began his career in 1989 and he started teaching in 1997
Where
Göran Söderström
