Maria’s inspiration
“The winding forms of eelgrass gave me the inspiration I needed.”
Maria Karlström, Guldviva’s head goldsmith and designer
Read Maria’s story
I have always wanted to create a jewellery collection inspired by Stormskerry Maja. Maja was the main character in a television series shown throughout the Nordic countries in the 1970s. It was based on Anni Blomqvist’s books about Maja and her life in the Åland archipelago in the 19th century.
Life there was lived entirely on the sea’s terms. The sea could be both generous and cruel. In the series and the books, Maja loses both her husband and her son to the sea. In real life, Anni Blomqvist suffered the same fate.
I began working on the collection a couple of years ago, but at first I struggled to find its central idea. Then it suddenly came to me. We live from and with the sea.
Water is what matters most. It is about living in harmony with the sea and caring for it. Like the eelgrass meadows that purify the Baltic Sea’s water and provide shelter and food for mussels and fish.
The winding forms of eelgrass gave me the inspiration I needed. It is a plant worth celebrating, but one that also needs protection. That is why it became the inspiration for this collection.
