Or: the jeweller whose work now sits in the V&A and the Met
Tone Vigeland isn’t a minor name to find in a private collection. Her work is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Museum in Oslo, and she’s widely regarded as one of the defining figures in 20th-century Scandinavian jewellery design. This piece dates from her period working with Plus Studios, the Norwegian design collective that became a genuine incubator for the country’s postwar craft movement.
Vigeland’s signature was texture over shine. Where a lot of mid-century silverwork chased a polished, jewel-like finish, she worked in oxidised surfaces, small repeated forms, and a kind of quiet, almost architectural restraint. It reads closer to sculpture than to conventional jewellery, which is a large part of why museums collect her rather than just auction houses.
Why the Plus Studios period matters. Plus was founded in the 1950s as a deliberate attempt to bring serious design thinking to Norwegian craft production, not just manufacture jewellery but treat it as a design discipline. Vigeland’s time there predates her most famous later independent work, but the same instincts, texture, restraint, a refusal to over-polish, are already fully present.
What to look for. Genuine Plus Studios pieces carry clear maker’s marks, and the oxidised finish should look intentional and even, not like tarnish that’s simply been left to accumulate. This pendant carries both.
This piece has since sold. It was part of a small, genuinely personal collection of mid-century and antique jewellery, gathered over years rather than acquired for resale. See the Tone Vigeland pendant on Gozotiques.