Arne Tjomsland

Arne Tjomsland (1915-1970) was Norway’s leading designer of small scaled figures in the 1950s and ‘60s, a self-taught creator originally working with advertisement and toy design. He gave shape to animals from the Nordic fauna, as well as Inuits and Vikings, in wood and whalebone. His first figure was a polar bear made from teak. At first, Tjomsland made all the figures himself, but when demand grew, furniture manufacturer Hiorth & Østlyngen took over some of the production. He got the inspiration for his figures from reading Polar literature as a child and the time spent with his father – preparatory Michael Tjomsland – at the Zoological Museum in Oslo. His artistic style is characterized by simplified organic shapes and soft but defined lines.

In 1957, Arne Tjomsland became the artistic director of Goodwill Produkter, an organization that gave disabled people a chance to work.

Country

  • Norway

Design for

Arihiro Miyake

Begüm Cana Özgür

Thanks

This website is dedicated to all those people who, in one way or another, have helped this project/dream/desire to begin and take shape.

Special thanks to my wife and my parents for supporting me, to Cristina Escarrà and Alfonso Pérez Rosales for generously sharing with me their experience as agents, to those clients who, in one way or another, have given me wise advice, to the brands that have placed their trust in me, and to Gonzalo, my godfather, who, with his always generous help, and guiding me throughout this process, is largely to blame for the fact that I can boast of being an “entrepreneur”.

Thanks also to Nuria, Rafa and Guillermo, who, to help me in the hard beginnings of any entrepreneurial activity, have opened the doors of their home, let me share with them a bit of their personal lives when I pass through their cities of residence, and give me free accommodation.

Thanks to all!