unique gemstones from the heart of sweden
We are jewelry manufacturers who have for many years worked especially with silver and precious stones. A few years ago, we got fascinated by blue color stones in silverworks, at the same time we wanted to focus and use Scandinavian material. We were presented Bergslaggsten and fell in immediately in love because of its beautiful colors and image. The fascination grew as our knowledge of the stone increased; it has a fantastic history. We therefore want to honor this beautiful stone and its history through our Nordic design jewelry.
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All our jewelry is handmade in 925 sterling silver and only with genuine swedishblue stones
We are seeking the beautiful, natural and genuine.
Bergslagen
Bergslagen is a mining district in Central Sweden, from Värmland to Uppland. Bergslagen has had mining, metal smelting and metalworking since the 13th century. Most important are various kinds of iron ore, including manganese-containing types. In 1873, there were operations in 646 deposits, with a total production of 823,000 tonnes of iron ore. Some of the largest fields are Grängesberg, Dannemora, Blötberg, Idkerberget, Håksberg, Pershyttan, Stripa, Stråssa, Riddarhyttan, Norberg and Långban.
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Several minerals are first found here. In addition, there are also many sulfide ores with copper, lead and zinc, as well as silver and gold in varying amounts. The largest and most well-known occurrences are Falun, Saxberget, Garpenberg and Åmmeberg.
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The area has many memories of the quarries in earlier times, not least by the local names. Several large Swedish industrial companies have their roots in Bergslagen.
The name comes from Swedish law, 'law', and refers to the old mayoral judgments that had their own, local jurisdiction.
The stones creation
The stone is a residual product from Swedish iron production over three hundred years ago. Production took place in small coal-fired ovens, where the ore was melted to a liquid mass.
The stone is formed when the furnace has a sufficiently high temperature to glaze the ore. The rock is the slag that is formed during metal smelting. The slag floats at the top of the melt and is discharged from the blast furnace before the metal. The slag is available in all possible colors and textures. What distinguishes Berglaggsten is precisely the blue color and the texture.
The color can change from light blue to clear blue and dark blue via green to black. The appearance depends, among other things, on what it contains for minerals. The structure is glass-like and brittle. The blue-green shades come from the elements of copper in the material, which otherwise consists mostly of silica. The structure is glass-like and when sanded it gives a shine.
Regarding the composition, it’s like glass or silica. You can say it’s very similar to Vulcanic glass
swedishblue - gemstone
At the beginning of the sixties, a Swedish goldsmith found the blue stone deep in the Swedish forests, in an area where there had previously been mining. All early traces of mining were removed, and the slagheaps were grown over and covered with vegetation after being untouched for hundreds of years. He named the stone Berslaggsten, named after the area, where he found it. He started making jewelry with the stone, which quickly became very popular locally in Sweden. But unfortunately, it turned out that the gemstone quality of the Bergsslaggstenen was very rare, which limited his production.
Bergslaggsten is a difficult word and utterance for anyone who does not speak Swedish. This has led to the stone being given the name swedishblue after the blue colors the stone has. We can say that gemstone has the name swedishblue and Bergslaggsten is the name of the raw stone.
We cut every stone by hand, the reason for this is the stone's structures, only the human eye and abilities can bring out the fine images in the stones. For us, it's like painting a picture, but vice versa. Instead of adding, we take away. We cut forward until we have the unique and beautiful image before final polishing.
Sweden today is a rich and prosperous society, with good living conditions and rights for its citizens. But unfortunately, this has not always been like this. Back in the 1700-1800s Sweden was a poor society, they did not have enough work or food for their entire population. As a result, when the opportunity opened, 1/3 of the country's population migrated to North America.
One of the things that changed Sweden was the emergence of the mining industry, especially in areas in the middle of Sweden in the 18th century. There were several small mines that gave work to local unemployed and smallholder farmers who could earn a little extra on a small income with extra work in the mines. The income provided wealth and liberation to the poor, which in turn provided opportunities for education and development for families and society in general. We claim that this was a decisive reason for the modern and well-functioning Sweden we know today.
Another digression that also comes from this activity was the invention of dynamite. Most people today know about the Nobel, its prices and wealth. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish inventor and philanthropist. He invented the dynamite and is considered the founder of modern explosive technology. In the 1800s, they used nitroglycerin as explosives in the mines. Nitroglycerin is a very unstable and dangerous explosive. The nitroglycerin was transported in horse transport on the poor roads up to the mines that were in very inaccessible areas up the hills.