At Wabi Sabi we have always been inspired by the spectacular nature that surrounds Tromsø.
For the Tåpp collection, the story begins in the mountains around our city, where jeweler and co-founder Dagmar Mildes herself goes looking for eclogite.
The stones are scattered throughout the landscape, each with its own shape, structure and colour scheme. The varied expression of the stones forms the basis for the design and is the reason why no one jewellery become exactly the same. Tåpp is about the meeting between raw nature and craftsmanship, where the contrast between the untreated stone and the precious metal creates the collection's characteristic expression.
When the stone becomes part of the jewellery
When you choose a Tåpp piece of jewellery, you get a stone that has been in nature for millions of years and is hand-selected by our designers. Each stone has its own shape, structure and character, and therefore no Tåpp piece is the same. jewellery exactly the same.
All jewellery in the Tåpp collection is cast in sand molds, one of the oldest methods in metal casting and a technique we use in several of our collections.
The rough-cut eclogite is placed directly into the sand mold before the gold or silver is heated to over 1000 degrees. When the liquid metal is poured into the mold, it envelops the stone and makes it an integral part of the jewellery.
From the depths of the earth to the mountain peaks in the north
That eclogite is suitable for this production method is no coincidence.
The rock was formed around 450 million years ago during the Caledonian orogeny, when parts of the Earth's crust were pushed more than 90 kilometers below the Earth's surface. There, the rock was exposed to extreme pressure and temperatures of several hundred degrees. This geological process gave eclogite a dense and robust mineral structure.
It is these properties that allow carefully selected eclogites to be cast directly into the jewellery. The history of the material is therefore not only part of the story, it is also a prerequisite for how Tåpp can be made.
A piece of jewellery with local origin
When Dagmar searches for eclogite, she can spend a whole day in the mountains to find stones with the right shape, structure and character. Not all stones become part of the Tåpp collection. Some are sent for polishing and used in the Mingle collection , while the most characteristic stones remain in our workshop in Tromsø.
The stones are lightly polished and sharp edges are removed, but the natural shape is preserved. The goal is never to make the stone perfect, but to highlight the expression that nature has already created.
When the jewellery is finished, the eclogite almost looks like a small mountain peak growing out of the gold or silver it is cast in. The contrast between the raw natural stone and the processed precious metal gives the collection an expression that is both powerful and refined.
Over the years, Tåpp has become one of our most popular collections. Perhaps because it reflects something many people recognize in life here in the north. The mountains are a natural part of everyday life, whether the hike goes up on a bright summer evening or through the dark Arctic winter.
With Tåpp, a small part of this landscape is brought forward, shaped into a handmade piece of jewellery that carries the story of both nature, the material and the people who created it.
See the entire Tåpp collection
Text by Ingrid Skaue Øines, Brand Director at Wabi Sabi.
AI is used to translate this article.