“Boat Bracelet”, yellow and red gold. Acquired by the Danish Art Foundation in 2006. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

The shape of the boat appears frequently in my work. I call the pointed oval a boat when it’s plump and a kernel when it’s slim. The boat is not just any boat. I saw it when I was on the Faeroe Islands on a cold February day, years ago. The trip went to Kirkjuboe where I wanted to see the Magnus Cathedral, which was begun in the 14th century and still not finished. Next to the cathedral was the royal seat and between the two buildings a stone wall. Time slowed down then, as I contemplated a boat, which was leaning up against the wall. It had a pointed bow in both ends, just like the Vikings’ boats had. The Boat Bracelet in this picture is made out of seven boats, which are all folded in over the hand. On the wrist it constantly takes on new shapes.

“Bracelet with Bell”, matte black silver- and gold bracelet. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

There’s something special about tinkling jewellery. Some people perceive it as noise; in others it evokes pleasant memories. Bracelet with Bell makes a blissful little sound. The tone from this bracelet is an E. For a while I’ve wondered how to change the tone of a bracelet. Now I know: When the two elements are equally thick, the tone is A, the concert pitch. Perfect balance.

“Bracelet with Bell”, matte and shining red gold. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

When you change the thickness of the two golden threads, both the mood and the tone of the bracelet changes. Now when I know that A, the concert pitch, sounds when the two threads are equally thick, I set that as a challenge to myself: Make a bracelet that jangles in A.

“Fish Bracelet”, matte gold and diamonds.

Fish Bracelet was created in the early Eighties when almost all my jewellery started from the shape of the animal, which never stops growing. As an object it’s one of the pieces that I myself like best. It’s partly because the form is so harmonious, partly because it has pleased me that the arm in fact has this shape! And finally, there’s the moment when you take the bracelet off and place it on the table. It will always sway for a while before it too goes to rest.

“Springy Bracelet”, gold and two diamonds. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

Gold is an enticing and magic substance. When you work with it, it becomes hard and springy. If you want to return to the soft and yielding gold, it only needs heat. The springy bracelets were developed in 2006, when I experimented with metallurgy, trying to find the breaking point for the springy thread.

“Loop”, rose-coloured gold, diamond and copper coloured pearl. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

The pearl is one of nature’s poetic wonders. It doesn’t matter whether the oyster that produced it lived in fresh- or saltwater. But both types of pearls get their glow from contact with the skin. “Loop” twirls itself around the wrist and finds rest where the long tail with the brown pearl reaches for the thumb.

“Cross”, gold bracelet with white pearls. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

Cross is a very light bracelet, which you wear with the pearls facing the palm of your hand. Each bracelet is sculpted to fit the wearer.

“Cross”, gold bracelet with black pearls. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

Cross comes with black, white or maybe yellow pearls and is a very light bracelet, which you wear with the pearls facing the palm of your hand. The bracelet is sculpted to fit the wearer.

“The King”, gold bracelet.

The next three bracelets have royal names because they resemble royal crowns. They are wide, but at the same time light. When you wear a bracelet like that, you can look right through the form. On the inside they bend “the wrong way”, meaning that the side facing your skin is convex which gives it a lovely, silky feel.

“The Queen”, matte black silver bracelet, gold inside.

Both the royal bracelets and the other large bracelets in two layers are made with my favourite hammer, which is an old hammer originally used for making cutlery. When I hold it in my hand, I get the feeling that it was made for women.

“Asymmetrical silver bracelet”

It always amazes me that when I work on this bracelet I’m hearing sounds that smiths have always heard…

“Boomerang”, matte black bracelet, gold inside. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

The title for this bracelet, the Boomerang, is inspired by the shape of the armring’s opening. Here you get a look into the golden interior of the bracelet, while seeing the boomerang shape of the opening.

“Yellow Prince”, partly black, gold bracelet with diamonds. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

All over the world there are princes. I think of the black, the red and the white and here the Yellow Prince. The dark interior of the bracelet creates a dramatic and fascinating contrast with the yellow diamonds.

“Deer Trail”, bracelet in matte black silver, gold inside. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

I created Deer Trail in 2001, the year of 9/11. That year in particular we thought about how much the world can change in a second. Deer Trail reminds us of how quickly the trail we leave in the world disappears.

“Red Bracelet with Gullies”, red gold, partly black.

I don’t know the metallurgical reason, but the red gold is not as easy to work with as the yellow. In spite of the difficulties I love creating jewellery with this particular colour gold. Maybe it’s the slight understatement of colour? At first you don’t quite know what you have in front of you – and that rather suits me.

“Red Prince”, red gold bracelet, partly black, with diamonds. Photo: Pi Michael.

“Möbius Bracelet”, gold and diamonds. Photo: Christian Lotzbeck.

Acquired by the Danish Art Foundation in 1988. Deposited at the Danish Arts and Crafts Museum.

It was Dr. August Möbius who first thought of creating a band twisted in such a way as to form a continuous surface. It is a fascinating thought that if you follow the band with your finger, you’ll never reach your starting point. Möbius’ idea has fascinated many, among them the Dutch M.C. Escher, the Swede Oscar Reutersvärld, Nana Ditzel – and humbly, now me.

“Kernel with a Sway”, gold bracelet with diamonds. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

To make a piece of jewellery which contains a kernel is like sowing a seed in your mind, hoping it will sprout and grow.

“Kernel with a Sway”, silver and gold bracelet.

The bracelets I make are almost always associated with necklaces of the same name, but they are more robust. Sometimes I set a yellow or a red diamond into the lock.

“Dorte”, matte black silver bracelet.

Dorte – well, it could just as well have been Deirdre or Doreen because it’s the D I’m after. But the very Danish name Dorte sounds exactly as robust as the feel you get from the bracelet.

“Dorte Runs”, matte black silver and gold bracelet.

The idea of making sequences came to me in 1999. For me the millennium was magic, something that made me think a lot about “time”. The chain is very symbolic; time passes no matter what we do. In that same period I made a number of  sequenced necklaces, and here on kloeve.dk you can see another piece from that period in the necklace section: Chain Dance.