About the Artists
Lise Aagaard
"Lise Aagaard is the brains and the heart behind Trollbeads. She is the woman behind the sparkling, colorful glass beads."
- An Icon in Jewelry Design - Trollbeads Lise did not start her professional career in jewelry, but rather as a physiotherapist. In 1986 she worked as an apprentice for her father and opened her own store in 1987. It was at Lise's store in Copenhagen where the Trollbeads concept started to become popular.
Lise is now head of the Trollbeads company as well as a main designer. In her tenure at Trollbeads, Lise Aagaard has designed over 400 items for the Trollbeads line ranging from glass beads to the iconic German Foxtail bracelet chain. When creating her beautiful glass beads, Lise does not view it as work, but rather as active meditation, she slips into her own world of creativity and peace.
Søren Nielsen
"Søren Solvsmed (Silversmith in English) has a high-octane imagination, which is why he loves to immerse himself in the Trollbeads universe, a fantastic world populated by strange Trolls, beautiful flowers, and cute animals" - An Icon in Jewelry Design - Trollbeads
Søren designed the very first Trollbead in 1976. Since then he has designed over 200 gold and silver beads for the Trollbeads line. Søren is highly imaginative and provides a thorough story for each bead, but encourages everyone to come up with their own stories.
Søren is a highly skilled silversmith. He begins all of his designs on paper and then creates the piece using melted wax. He estimates that he designs up to 10 beads in a given day, however only a few make it to the line. He is highly influenced by the world around him and the many books he reads.
Eske Storm
Eske Storm is certainly one of the most unsuspecting Trollbeads designers, with his long blonde hair and carefree surfer appearance. Eske is a formally trained Goldsmith by Hertz & Jakobsen in Copenhagen, Denmark and from School of the Arts in Tasco, Mexico. In 2001, Eske opened up a store next to the Trollbeads headquarters in Copenhagen.
Eske gets a lot of his inspiration from the Vikings and old Norse mythology which can easily be seen in his designs such as the Midgard Serpent and Vikings beads. Eske is famous for his elephant lock which he started designing at the age of 6. He created an elephant bead as a young child, which later turned into the basis for the elephant lock in the Trollbeads Collection today.
Eske prefers to begin his design process by molding the part, rather than sketching the design on pencil and paper. The design can be perfected once it is a physical part that can be held and manipulated.
Thør Høy
Thør Høy is a relatively new addition to the Trollbeads designer family. He is trained in design and simulation software, which he uses to initially create his jewelry. However, he is also a very talented artist and uses traditional methods such as wax molding to ensure that the designs are reproducible.
He has currently designed 13 pieces for the line including Apple of Wisdom and Labyrinth from the 2014 Autumn collection. Additionally, he has designed beads for the World Tour Collection including the Mahjong "Fortune" Bead. Like most Trollbeads designers Thør says he gets his inspiration from all around him.
Mette Saabye
"Mette Saabye prefers her trollbeads to be versatile, so that they can be seen to change time and time again. Versatile jewelry is enchanting and makes people want to experiment."
- An Icon in Jewelry Design - Trollbeads
Mette has designed 40 pieces for the collection including the new gold bead Live, Love, and Forgive. Nearly all of Mette's designs use the light and dark of the sterling silver in a very intriguing way. A great example of this is Sun Circle, with the stunning bright bursts and dark inner rings.
Mette designs primarily on paper and wax, and recently began using 3D modeling as an additional design tool. She is constantly tweaking her designs in order to make them as perfect as possible before she is finished.
Tomas Cenius
Tomas Cenius, known as the "razor-sharp Troll", has been designing jewelry since he was very young. At 14 years old, Tomas stopped his formal education and began selling leather belts that he had designed. It wasn't until Tomas was 19 that he discovered his talent for sculpting while taking an art course at a local college. Later Tomas learned wax sculpting techniques fromSøren Nielsen. He became highly skilled and has even designed jewelry for the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark.
Tomas is very serious about his craft, constantly striving for perfection in all of his designs. "Essentially my goal is to make beautiful jewelry that touches people. I give the same attention to every piece, whether it is for the Royal couple or the lady next door."
Tomas has designed over 25 pieces for the Trollbeads line, including most recently the Sun Moon Stars Lock.
Anders Martin Bruun
"I work by first observing a movement, taking it in and then drawing it." Anders Martin Bruun - An icon in Jewelry Design - Trollbeads
Martin has a soft spot for animals and their young, especially after having a child of his own recently. Martin has incorporated this inspiration from animals into a number of his designs. In each of his beads, Martin focuses on the movement of the bead around the chain, and places the hole for the bead in a very specific location so that the animal is completely in tact and moves around the chain in humorous ways.
Martin sketches his designs before modeling them with wax. Currently he has designed 19 beads for the Trollbeads line.
Kim Buck
Kim studied at the Danish College of Jewellery and Silversmithing (now Institute of Precious Metals) and was a Professor in the Jewellery Department at the School of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg.
It is fascinating to work with Trollbeads, because Trollbeads is really the essence of what jewelry is all about – jewelry becomes a type of talisman for us and gets a very personal significance for the people who wear it every day. We build a relationship with jewelry from the moment we get it, maybe as a gift from a lover, and expand day by day this relationship and the jewelry’s importance to us.
Trollbeads are the perfect supports for these relationships with their various small meanings and universes within themselves. Although we, as designers of Trollbeads, have an idea about them from the outset, we have a clear desire that those who wear them give them a new meaning – that is actually the point. That is what makes all Trollbeads unique.
Kim has designed 15 beads for the Trollbeads Collection and 14 links for the X by Trollbeads line.
Gail Crosman Moore
Gail Crosman Moore, Trollbeads’ US Designer, is an award winning multi-disciplinary artist that brings many years of arts education, both as teacher and student. Her B.F.A. from Mass College of Art was in the Art Education discipline, which is to say she was able to pursue any/all media.
Intrigued and stimulated by so many things to include; surface, form, color and texture that can be readily interpreted through a myriad of materials paired with a lifelong obsession with the ‘Pod Form’ work together as inspiration and a recipe for a ‘job’ never completed. From concept to execution to trade shows and classrooms, the artist and teacher lie at the core.
Gail Crosman Moore’s work has been recognized and awarded through publication in many trade magazines, including: Ornament, Beadwork, Bead and Button, Lamagga, and in several books on various subjects, including her work in Felt, Glass, Metal and Paper. Gail has won awards that include Saul Bell, 2009, an A.R.T. Grant and invitations to teach abroad which include trips to Japan, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and Great Britain. Gail has designed 12 beads for the Trollbeads line, including the new Dreams of Freedom kit.
Scott Bouwens
Scott Bouwens, Trollbeads’ US Designer, has been practicing the art of lampwork glass beads since 1998. In addition to being a bead maker, Scott is also an inventor, toolmaker, instructor, videographer, and photographer. Scott’s glasswork and tools have been featured in various publications, and he has won many honors for his work.
Scott became a Trollbeads designer with the release of the Rocky Beach Kit, featured in the 2013 Spring collection. Scott primarily uses Effetre glass, and is known for the bright yet earthy hues he creates from using fine silver leaf accents in his beads. Today, Scott and his wife run a retail studio gallery in La Conner, WA, where they create, display and sell their works of art. Scott studied Landscape Design and Communications at Washington State University in the late 80’s, early 90’s.
Artist Statement
“I am an inventor/hobbyist at heart and have always enjoyed tinkering with new ideas. As a child I used to take apart my toys or equipment and then put them back together. I enjoy the challenge of figuring out how things work. My love of science, outer space (seen in my Space Gems and Galaxy Beads), and art come together nicely for me in this field. I especially enjoy making multi-bead glass sculptures and plan to lean my work in that direction. My pieces range in size from the very small to large and intricate. Some are pose-able and invite interaction. All have their own personality” –Scott Bouwens
Nicolas Aagaard
Nicolas has spent many years studying and designing jewelry making and is part of the third generation of Trollbeads artists from within his family. Together with his partner, Kaare Frandsen, Nicolas has designed the following X Jewellery links: Pixels in Love; Sound Wave; Skyline; Diamond; Lots of Love; Gamer, and Order in Chaos.
"It is unbelievably exciting for me to be to be a part of Trollbeads, especially since I'm a part of the third generation of Trollbeads artists in my family. There is so much history to Trollbeads and I have so many experienced Goldsmiths around me that I can learn from.
When I make a bead, I try to give it life. There has to be a reason for the bead to exist. To me Trollbeads are not just jewelry - every single bead has a life, a soul and a history."
In addition to X Jewellery, Nicolas has designed many beads as well as the double and single wrap bracelets for the Trollbeads line.