Swedish Designer/Maker Karin Eriksson

You know how every once in a great while, you run into someone – be it a blogger, designer, crafter, or artist – whose style resonates with you so completely that you feel like they have been reading your mind? Well, that is how I feel about Swedish-based designer/maker Karin Eriksson. Her ceramics and handcrafted home decor pieces are effortlessly romantic, as if they sprang to life in a Swedish fairy tale. While browsing her vases and bowls (below) at Horne, I found myself wishing I could clear out my entire kitchen, give everything a good lick of white paint, and then set up a small collection of Karin Eriksson’s bowls and teacups on open shelving. Each piece feels so special, just by mixing a few of her bowls into a basic set of white dishes you could change the whole feeling of your table. Let’s have a peek…

Eriksson’s work is dreamy and romantic, but not at all fussy, so it would be equally at home around modern or more trad furniture and things. I love that teensy butterfly detail inside the rose garland bowl! Swoon! On her website Karin has a section where she shares the inspiration behind her work – I really appreciate this because it helps build a more personal connection between the artist/maker and the customer, and it’s fascinating to be able to trace where creative ideas come from. Here are a few of my favorite images from her sketchbook of inspiration:

Karin lists fashion, nature, and old craft objects among her sources of inspiration. I love that the objects she makes go together so naturally but without having to match precisely – smooth white backgrounds, butterflies, flowers, botanicals…

This is just the sort of stuff I would like to gradually collect over the years :) And if I ever had my own little shop, Karin Eriksson would be on my shortlist of favorite designers and crafters to stock.

Karin has a brick-and-mortar shop in Solna, Sweden, called Manos, located in a greenhouse near her own workshop (which I would love to visit someday!), an online shop where she sells her own goods along with carefully chosen items from other designers, and a delightful style blog. You can browse more photos of her work and studio on Flickr, and find a complete list of shops that carry Karin Eriksson ceramics here.

{images: top, Horne; all others, Karin Eriksson}