Hairwork Jewelry: A Traditional Scandinavian Folk Art by Diane Irby

Swedish Hårarbetare — Public Domain

In the early 1800s, the people of a small, mostly agricultural, peasant village in the Dalarna district of Sweden called Våmhus became industrious in finding ways to supplement their incomes. It had been a tough few seasons and, due to a number of socio-economic factors, including a population boom, they found it necessary to rely on traditional crafts to make ends meet. As a result, men primarily became involved in basket weaving, while women refined the art of hårarbete or traditional hairwork jewelry. This was a natural transition, as the village had been known for its wigmakers. Though, toward the end of the 18th century, the powdered wigs that had been popular fashion statements for both women and men were no longer in vogue. Hair art, on the other hand, although not a recent concept, was a flourishing trend during the Victorian era, and it is in the Scandinavian countries that we can trace its early history of commodification.

Traditional Scandinavian hairwork is different from other types of hairwork, such as gimp wirework and palette work. Traditional hairwork is created using techniques similar to lace making, where bundles of precisely counted numbers of hairs are arranged and weighted and are then hung from a rotatable round table with a spindle in the center that the hair is woven around. Thus, this method of working the hair is sometimes referred to as tablework or table braiding. Traditional Japanese kumihimo textile weaving is created similarly, using a marudai (round) stand with weights made from wood. Hairwork created using this method has the appearance of a three-dimensional braided hollow tube or bead. Table braided hairwork is much shinier than the hair in wirework pieces; this is because, once the length of hair was used or the spindle was covered with the laced hair to the desired length, it was detached from the table and placed in boiling water. Boiling the hair for approximately twenty minutes binds the collagen and keratin and, after then baking it at a low temperature until dry, it becomes stiff and shiny.

Just as wigs, the luxury hair ornaments were not something that could be sold within the community. The sentimental jewelry was different, however, as it was to be made with the hair of a loved one. Some were hesitant to send hair to be worked with, afraid that it would be ruined, lost, or substituted with anonymous hair without their knowledge. So, as hairwork became more coveted, many women took it up for themselves with the help of instructional books. In 1833, 17-year-old Per Adolf Huldberg of Stockholm published a 25-page introductory instructional pamphlet, Konsten att göra hår-arbeten or The Art of Doing Hair-Works.

Illustration from Per Adolf Huldberg's book The Art of Making Hair-Works from 1833 — Public Domain

The craze spread across Europe and, in London, in 1864, Charles Young and William Halford published their book, The Jewellers’ Book of Patterns in Hair Work. It was so trendy, in fact, that European colonists heading to North America took the tradition of hairwork with them. Instructions for tablework and other methods of hairwork could be found in popular magazines, as well as in books such as Mark Campbell’s 1867 Self-Instructor in the Art of Hair Work. Nevertheless, not everyone had the time, skill, or patience for such a craft. However, this dilemma had provided a new opportunity for Våmhus hairworkers.

Beginning in the summer of 1825, groups of young Våmhus women would set off, sometimes on foot, and finding various forms of transportation along the way to become itinerant hairworkers in Finland, Germany, England, and Norway. Before their trip, to help keep their feet dry as they traveled, Våmhus hairworkers would spin wool mixed with treated hair and knit water-resistant socks to wear over their regular wool socks. Once they arrived at their destination, Våmhus hairworkers would go door-to-door, offering their skills. They were warmly welcomed and often provided room and board in addition to their pay. Clients were happy to have the work done on-site. At the end of their working season, Våmhus hairworkers would return home with funds that went toward their families and the upkeep of their homes. Each summer, Våmhus hairworkers would travel again, teaching girls and young women and sometimes young men the art form in the off-seasons, until the craft fell out of favor at the close of the 19th century.

Traditional Swedish Hairwork by Joanna Svensson

Thereafter, traditional hairwork remained only as a quiet pastime in Våmhus until the mid-1950s when a few members of the Swedish Hemslöjdsförbundet (Home Crafts Society) revitalized the craft, inspiring a new generation of Våmhus hairworkers. In the late 1990s, to secure the knowledge of traditional Våmhus hairwork techniques, Hårkullornas förening, or The Hairworker’s Society, was formed. Hairwork is still very much alive and well in Våmhus today, where there is located a museum dedicated to the art form, and is richly incorporated into their yearly summer celebrations. Traditional Våmhus hairwork is often identifiable by the absence of metal jewelry findings because no metalsmiths were in the area during the development of the original techniques. Instead, hair-wrapped beads can be found at the ends of jewelry pieces, and very thin braids are attached, which are used in place of metal clasps to tie the pieces closed.

Diane Irby, 2023
All Rights Reserved
Chicago citations:
Notes
Diane Irby, "Hairwork Jewelry: A Traditional Scandinavian Folk Art," 2023, https://www.dirby.art/blog/hairwork-jewelry-a-traditional-scandinavian-folk-art-by-diane-irby.
Bibliography
Irby, Diane. "Hairwork Jewelry: A Traditional Scandinavian Folk Art." 2023.
https://www.dirby.art/blog/hairwork-jewelry-a-traditional-scandinavian-folk-art-by-diane-irby.

References:

Bachmann, Karen. “Ornamental Hairwork, a Bygone Craft.” Victorian Hairwork with Karen Bachmann, Morbid Anatomy. Lecture, October 2021.

Campbell, Mark. Self-Instructor in the Art of HairWork: Dressing Hair, Making Curls, Switches, Braids, and Hair Jewelry of Every Description. New York: Campbell, 1867. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38658/38658-h/38658-h.htm.

Huldberg, Per Adolf. The Art of Doing Hair-Works. Stockholm, 1833.

Linder, Mats. hårarbeid. 2023. https://snl.no/hårarbeid.

Sparr, Anna. “Våmhus Hårarbete.” Katedralskolan, Lund, Sweden, 1997.

Svensson, Joanna. http://www.myranshemslojd.se/sv/Myrans_Hemslöjd.html.

Young, Charles, and William Halford. The Jewellers’ Book of Patterns in Hair Work. Containing a Great Variety of Copper-Plate Engravings of Devices and Patterns in Hair; Suitable for Mourning Jewellery, Brooches, Rings, Guards, Alberts, Necklets, Lockets, Bracelets, Miniatures, Studs, Links, Earrings, & Etc. London: Published and sold by W. Halford & C. Young, 1864. https://archive.org/details/jewellersquotbo00Will.