Candlestick 855B

Straight and ascetic, Candlestick 855B conveys a sense of pride. The simplified style with no other decoration than the lines of the ridges, the flutings, identifies Bernadotte as one of the first modern designers working with Georg Jensen Silversmithy. Neoclassical airs can also be discerned in the use of elements reminiscent of the stringent shapes and proportions of Antiquity, here the column.

The stem of this candlestick is a tube which has been pulled through a so-called draw plate which makes the lines. The base is an assemblage of four individually made parts, and when the silversmith assembles them he/she must ensure that the soldering is perfectly smooth so that they are invisible on the final piece. The most challenging part of making this candlestick is the actual the joining of the base and the stem – a part that you hardly see because the rallying point is covered by the hollow stem. The challenge is that the slightest unevenness in the two parts and/or the soldering will result in the stem slanting and consequently a dripping candle.

Unlike most other hollowware pieces the parts of this candlestick are polished before they are assembled. The reason for this is the design - the edges must stay very sharp and if the candlestick is assembled before being polished it will be almost impossible for the polisher to not hit the sharp edges due to the very high speed of the brushes on the grinding and polishing machine.