Bertel Gardberg

Bertel Gardberg (1916–2007) was a well-known Scandinavian designer who is considered the father of Finnish silversmithing. He strongly believed in the creative power of handicrafts and explained how everything should come from the hands: “Between the hands and the brain lie the human heart and a love of work. We need to be faithful to the character of a material.”

Gardberg worked with many different materials, often combining them – an example of this is the Lion cutlery range designed for Hackman in 1958. For Hackman, he also created the Carelia cutlery range in the early 1960s. Gardberg received numerous international awards for his work, including gold and silver medals at the Milan Triennial in the 1950s, and the prestigious Lunning Prize in 1961 – considered the highest honor in Scandinavian industrial design at the time. The award he valued most, however, was the Goldene Ehrering, often described as the Nobel Prize of gold- and silversmithing. In 1982, he was granted the honorary title of Academician.