Hairwork jewellery from Våmhus
Watch chains, bracelets and brooches braided from human hair.
In the nineteenth century jewellery made of hair was fashionable throughout Europe, as a keepsake of a loved one or of the dead. In Våmhus in Dalarna hairwork became a trade: women travelled around Europe selling work and taking orders.
Hairwork jewellery was both sentimental and fashionable, and shows how rural craft could reach the cities of Europe.
Materials: Human hair, clasps and mounts in gold, silver or gilt metal
Manufacture: The hair is braided by hand around a form on a special table, boiled and dried.
The fine, even braiding, often hollow inside.
Metal clasps and pendants, sometimes engraved.
The colour of the hair, which may be mixed from several people.