Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe

July 20, 2020

Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe is a historical figure in the world of jewelry, as the first female silversmith to receive international acclaim. Bülow-Hübe studied at Konstfack, the School for Arts, Crafts, and Design in Stockholm, Sweden, staging her first exhibition at the age of 21. Torun made self-proclaimed "anti-status jewelry" using silver wire embellished with gemstones such as quartz, tiger's eye, moonstone and amethyst. Torun spent a summer in France, where she would meet Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Constantin Brâncuși, Jean-Paul Satre, and Picasso, who became a great admirer of her work. A few years later she opened her own studio, which made her the first female silversmith in Sweden with her own workshop. In 1960, Torun won the American Lunning Prize for design, given annually to innovative Scandinavian designers in their thirties. She met Danish silversmith Georg Jensen, for whom she began designing exclusively in 1969, becoming the second most famous designer at the company behind Jensen himself. Throughout the course of her career, Torun worked in Sweden, France, Germany and Indonesia.

Black and white image of Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe fixing a silver comb to the head of singer, songwriter, actor, and activist Abbey Lincoln

Singer, songwriter, actor, and activist Abbey Lincoln and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe, 1962.

A golden wristwatch designed by Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe without an hour hand or numbers sitting against a black background

A wristwatch she designed for an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, with no hour hand or numbers because she “abhorred the relentlessness of time.”