Iselin embraces the personal and timeless in jewellery

By Molly McPharlin | Photos: Iselin

Designing jewellery played a large part in Iselin Strømsvåg’s life for over a decade. After running a jewellery design company, Dreams of Norway, with her colleague Nina Einarsen for 13 years, Strømsvåg took some time away from the business to think about what she really wanted to do. Jewellery design continued to be at the heart of her plans. So in 2022, Strømsvåg started over with Iselin, the company that bears her name.

Strømsvåg trained in fashion design at Esmod, the school of fashion and design at Kristiania University in Oslo, Norway. After this, she worked for well-known Norwegian apparel brands. Soon, however, jewellery design became her passion.

Iselin embraces the personal and timeless in jewellery

A gold ring from Nature’s Treasures.

Jewellery as an expression of the personal and infinite

Strømsvåg believes that the jewellery people choose to wear is cherished. “It’s intimate to wear a piece so close to the skin. Jewellery is often chosen based on the feeling it evokes in the wearer,” she says. “Perhaps it’s a reminder of a value the person has in life, a reminder of someone they love, or a talisman for happiness. With the jewellery I make, I wanted to share a small part of my heart with people around the world.”

At the same time, Strømsvåg sees her pieces as everlasting. “I want to create jewellery that can be passed down from mother to daughter. A necklace, for example, that embraces a specific feeling, or a bracelet that represents an important moment in life.”

A gold floral necklace and earrings from the Nature’s Treasures collection.

Appealing to a wide customer base

Strømsvåg’s customers come from a variety of backgrounds and demographics. “I have both younger customers and ones that are older,” she says. “They have different interests and styles. I find it an exciting challenge to create jewellery that can suit all target groups, while ensuring that designs are true to the spirit of my work.” Strømsvåg works with both gold and silver. “Younger customers are most interested in slightly smaller and lighter jewellery, such as my shell earrings. And more mature customers prefer larger and more sculpted pieces.”

The jewellery designer especially enjoys the process of making larger pieces. “It’s like making a kind of portable sculpture,” she says. Strømsvåg also enjoys wearing her own jewellery. “A personal favourite of mine is the Surf collection. I love the undulating, smooth surfaces. These are designs I can wear with any outfit and for any occasion.”

Stømsvåg’s jewellery production is unique. She uses mouldable clay made of 99.9% pure silver. Once fired in a ceramic oven, you get a piece of silver that is finer and brighter than more traditional sterling. In this way, each piece is completely individual. You may even notice faint fingerprints left on the surface in some places. For gold pieces, the silver is thickly coated with 18k gold.

Wave circle silver earrings and ear cuff from Flow.

Prolific collections

Iselin showcases three main collections. Flow is inspired by the creative flow that Strømsvåg experiences when she designs her work. “It was the first collection completed after my break. There is a sense of coming home,” she says. The Nature’s Treasure collection tries to emulate the feeling of finding treasures in nature, such as a shell or pinecone. And the third collection, Aurora, is an ode to love. “Aurora is my daughter’s name and the collection was born from the feeling of embracing all that is light and love,” muses Strømsvåg.

The three collections form the backbone of the company. “I’ve been working on these three themes since I started Iselin a year and a half ago. They feel like an inexhaustible source of inspiration.” Strømsvåg finds inspiration for her work from the wildness of Norwegian nature. “I experience nature here as quite rough. There are vast mountains, great contrasts…and a lot of varied weather! I think this is reflected in my jewellery, which has the feeling of being quite untamed,” she reflects.

A variety of different silver rings and a bracelet from the Flow collection.

Thoughts of the future

Currently, Iselin’s main business is in the online shop. In the future, Strømsvåg hopes to open up to a larger global market. “In the long term, I’d like to have stores or showrooms in a selection of cities across Europe and even the US. Currently, many of my customers come from countries such as Denmark, Germany, France, and the UK,” she says. “I think my style could become popular in Asia, as well. It would be exciting to test that theory.”