The Skandium Christmas Gnome has become a much loved classic for its customers, and I certainly look forward to its reappearance every year – Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it. This engaging little character comes from Scandinavian folklore, which has it that the gnomes (known as tomte or nisse) live under the floor boards in houses and farm buildings and are protective and helpful to both humans and animals. Despite this caring side to their nature, the tomte are also prone to take offence easily, in which case they would play tricks and pranks and generally get up to all kind of mischief. Leaving little gifts for the gnomes was traditional, particularly on Christmas eve, and many Scandinavians still put out a bowl of hot porridge on the doorstep for the gnomes to enjoy, to keep them friendly in the year to come.
The Skandium gnomes are designed and made in the Swedish countryside by Åsa Götander, who tells the story here of how it all began;
“It all started when we moved to the countryside in 1984. Many different products were made in the neighbourhood. Some of the makers I already knew, and I established contacts with others. I finally made up my mind to start my own business. We built a small workshop in 1993 and called it Åsas Tomtebod (Åsa’s Gnome Workshop). The workshop barely made a living but my products became very popular. I started to think that maybe not only local people would be interested. In 2000 I signed up for a fair in Stockholm. This was the start of a big change. When I got back from Stockholm, I had sold out everything and my workshop became the centre for the production of gnomes. I had found my calling.”
Asa also describes how the gnomes are made with wool from the free roaming sheep found on the Swedish island of Gotland:
“Using their curly grey wool along with warm water and soap, we create a felt that is then handshaped into caps. The wool is also is turned into beards and hair. We also use sheepskin from arctic Icelandic sheep, which have a long straight fleece in a variety of colours. Each gnome is slightly different, giving them an individual personality.”
For me their appeal is in the mix of Scandi simplicity, natural materials and handcrafted individuality which has a subtle sophistication all of its own. With their hats pulled over their noses I think of Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (OK, not actually a gnome, I know) plus more than a dash of Gandalf’s crooked steeple of a hat.
The gnomes are available instore and online from Skandium and come in two sizes – small and large – and in a variety of colour combinations.
Images: Skandium
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