Fine Handcrafts drawing on centuries of tradition

The Vikings are notorious for their periodic (and unwelcome!) visits to the coasts of modern-day England and France.  Less well-known, however, is their history as artisans and craftsmen.  The fine products of their advanced civilization are found in archaelogical sites across the expanse of Europe, Russia, and even the eastern portions of Asia.  Their workmanship was highly sought then, and it is even rarer today, now that their culture has relinquished its primacy on the world stage.

Slojd is the Norse work for "craft," and Viking Slojd resurrects the traditional approach to everyday implements in our lives.   It's easy to find a mass-produced wooden bowl, for instance, ground out of an anonymous block of wood, with no regard for the wood's natural grain or characteristics.   Painted items are usually decorated by machines, or by people trained to operate like machines, on a factory line. 

It's not that modern is bad -- automation makes our lives more convenient and enjoyable.  It's just that its results sometimes lack the personal touch, the spark of life, that a true hand-crafted implement has.  The items pictured on these pages are the result of one man's interest in finding the traditions of a bygone era, and applying them in ways that are modern, useful, and surprisingly personal. 

A simple bowl, when hewn by hand from a log recovered from the Great Ice Storm, has a history, and a life that is apparent in its natural curves and simple adornments.  The grain of the wood is not just visible -- it has shaped the bowl's every aspect, and illuminates the bowl's form with an echo of the life of the tree it came from.

Handpainted items from Viking Slojd are no less impressive.  Derived from the traditions of the Vikings, the Celts, and many other peoples whose cultures are long since forgotten, the designs evoke a time when art was a means of enhancing our daily lives.  Rather than massive, meaningless, taxpayer-funded lumps on the green, art was uncommon beauty in common things.  A bread board, or a hope chest, or even a salt shaker could have meaning and beauty, elevating it from its utilitarian purpose, and bringing the user a bit of joy. 

The daily need for beauty has not passed with the advancement of civilization, but the means of satisfying that need have become rarer than ever.  Viking Slojd offers you the chance to add items of honest, traditional craftwork to your life.  We invite you to enter and see for yourself some of the work that goes into these works, and examine some of the results of this handcraft.