Englebert pairs gold jewellery with the enduring forms of Swedish ceramics
Englebert jewellery embodies timeless design principles, celebrated here in dialogue with ceramics
Swedish jewellery house Englebert, founded in Stockholm in 1920, is defined by a clean, minimalist style honed over four generations. Collections, including Legacy Knot, Loop and Drop Link, eschew ornamentation to cut clean, fuss-free silhouettes drawn in reassuringly heavy 18-carat gold.
Many of the brand’s classical pieces have now taken their place in the wider conversation of Swedish design, placed alongside Swedish ceramics in a photo series by Sophie Kirk in collaboration with Paul Jackson of Jackson Design.
A vast number of the Swedish and Scandinavian studio ceramics and bronze belong to Englebert’s private collection. Pieces – including a sculptural Argenta vase from the 1930s, a Tapio Wirkkala bronze and a Friberg vase – embody a rich materiality when paired alongside the jewellery.
For Oscar and Giovanna Engelbert, the series is a celebration of beautiful form across both mediums. ‘What drew us was the silhouette. The neck of a vase, the line of a link, the curve of a stone; place them together and they stop being ceramic and jewellery and become one language of form. That is what this series captures.’
It is the latest step for Engelbert in a long-standing championing of Swedish design. The brand, which began in Stockholm in the same decade Swedish designer Wilhelm Kåge joined porcelain specialist Gustavsberg, has alluded to this parallel before, including vintage Kåge ceramics in their Beverly Hills showroom.
‘There is a clear language shared between the objects and the jewellery,’ agrees Paul Jackson. ‘Both also belong to the broader continuum of Swedish ceramics and Swedish grace, where elegance was achieved through proportion and material quality rather than excess.’
Adds photographer Sophie Kirk: ‘Across the four palettes – moss green, beige, black and white – the gold and the objects read differently against each one. Their individuality made every frame a world of its own.’
