Based in Copenhagen, jeweller and jewellery designer Vibe Harsløf is the essence of coolness. Her universe is fearless and distinctively playful. Harsløf is strongly influenced by contrasted gritty sub-cultures and the classic Scandinavian design tradition which makes her style rare. She celebrates imaginative and urban jewellery and her creations often functions as design objects that holds the potential of becoming timeless.
We met with the cool jeweler who repeatedly challenge the wearer with jewellery that needs to be seen on a body to make sense, to talk about jewellery, life and crazy habits.
- Describe a perfect day for you?
A perfect day would be waking up slowly, taking time to have a long breakfast including reading the paper and drinking lots of coffee. Maybe go for a swim in the harbor before going for a long walk in the city ( it's obviously sunny…) on the way I will pop into a museum or gallery to see an exhibition and finally end the day with dinner and drinks with friends somewhere nice.
- What do you dream about?
Traveling the whole world - I get to travel a lot with my jewellery, but there are so many places I still haven't visited
- Do you have something you can’t live without?
My bike – it provides freedom and mobility in the city.
- Why did you choose to become a jewellery designer?
It was actually kind of random that I ended up doing jewellery. I knew I wanted to do something creative, but I wasn’t really sure in what field it should be. Originally I wanted to do interior design or graphic design, but after seeing a jewellery degree show at a design school in Germany, I decided to give it a try and got an internship, after just one day in the workshop at my (then) internship, I totally fell in love with the craft. And that was it!
- Do you have a crazy habit?
Too many to mention – one significant is being extremely messy when I work.
- Describe the design DNA of Vibe Harsløf?
My intent is to create contemporary jewellery of lasting quality. I aim to challenge the preconceived idea of how and where a pieces of jewellery should be worn, but without compromising the wearability. I find it very interesting to see how minimal I can go and tend to remove all excess parts during the design process, leaving pieces that rather accentuate the body than embellish.
- What is your guilty pleasure?
At the moment it is watching the Danish version of the big bakeoff with my son – it is both very scary and intriguing.
- What is your must-have jewellery?
Jewellery for the laces on my sneakers, anklets and earmuffs in various variations. This season I have made an earmuff with multi colored stones - can't wait to wear that.
- What would your occupation be if you weren't a jewellery designer?
I have been asked that many times and I still don’t have a clue – can't see myself doing anything else
- What is your biggest achievement/moment in your jewellery career?
It's difficult to pinpoint one, I guess basically it's being able to live off making the jewellery I want to wear myself and not having to compromise the design and actually I hope I still have my greatest achievement to look forward to- would be sad if it already happened.