1950's Kupittaan Kulta Elis Kauppi Modernist Scandinavian sterling silver penda

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1950's Kupittaan Kulta Elis Kauppi Modernist sterling silver pendant on 16.25" modern designer necklace. No issues with either piece. The … Read more 1950's Kupittaan Kulta Elis Kauppi Modernist sterling silver pendant on 16.25" modern designer necklace. No issues with either piece. The pendant measures 1 7/16" tall.

Elis Kauppi One of the most important figures in Finish jewelry design Elis Kauppi’s vision of a new jewelry style inspired a generation of designers and launched Finland onto the international jewelry design scene.

In 1945, in Turku, Finland at the age of 24 , Kauppi started his renowned jewelry workshop named Kupittaan Kulta. He was part of a young group of makers which would forever change the face of jewelry design. Kauppi's drive to innovate originated from the difficult circumstances of the war and a desire to break out of the usual standards of jewelry design of that time.

The War and the Innovation of the Kupittaan Kulta Workshop

Finnish jewelry ingenuity was greatly tested during the second world war and it was reported that even when glass beads and stones were hard to obtain during the war that the Kupittan Kulta workshop melted down colored pin heads to provide jewelry accents and Finish granite was upgraded to a precious stone. Below : L to Right: Kupitaan Kulta jewellery including silver and amethyst flower pendant, the "Mountain Stream" necklace and a modernist Kupittan Kulta brooch

International Acclaim Kauppi, representing Finland, started exhibiting internationally in the 1950's winning prestigious awards. His "Mountain Stream" necklace which featured cascading bubbles of spectrolite and rock crystals was an example of his original craftsmanship. The anvil benchmark beside the Turku town stamp are identifying marks for this designer and his company.

Modernist Forms Attention to simplicity and form was at the heart of Kauppi's jewelry designs .Kauppi’s designs emphasized abstraction, and being a true modernist he he rejected the previously popular naturalistic forms of the forties which focused on flower and leaf type designs. With great emphasis on craftsmanship his strong and bold jewelry designs remain strikingly relevant to this day. See less