The Same Swedish Sandin

New York artist Hanna Sandin creates lightly sculptural yet soft jewelry which goes by the name SAMMA, which is Swedish for 'same'. A name strange to us but familiar to the Swedish artist.

The serendipitous start of the jewelry line SAMMA is as unusual and memorable as the line itself—it began with a robbery. When the artist's apartment was burgled and all her valuables and jewelry were stolen, she began stringing materials from her studio around her neck as a method of temporary adornment. The casual operation underwent an alchemical shift of Rumpelstiltskin straw-into-gold proportions, and her makeshift necklaces became beautiful jewelry that is both elegant and slightly offbeat.

Hanna Sandin has the mesmerizing ability to take the most banal object and give it a sense of worth by allowing its inherent beauty to shine through. The six-foot-tall designer is rarely seen without one of her creations around her neck. No matter what piece we talk about, the collection of ropes and triangles, chains and knots seem a natural, wearable extension of the mobiles and sculptures (see below) she creates: a harmonious sing-song of complementary fragments.

"My start in fashion was tentative. My jewelry line began almost by accident. The first SAMMA necklace was the triangle necklace – the most basic brass triangles on a cotton white rope. I gave away 30 of these at least, and my friends joked that there was a hierarchy of whom I liked best – based on which necklaces had the most triangles. I gave one necklace to a friend who ran a store, Mc & Co in Brooklyn. They sold my first necklace before I had even picked a name for the line, and it made what I do now seem possible. That is where I started. Being in New York also helped. Everyone in this city is here to do something, and generally have a cavalier attitude about starting out in new fields. It’s easy to move forward with new ideas because there are plenty of people with momentum to help you along in New York. I jumped into making jewelry as an amateur, but it hasn’t been a handicap at all. It has just been one way to interact with other creative people in the city. In that sense, I love making jewelry and love the opportunities that have come with being a designer."

"I am not so much interested in fashion as an unattainable luxury, but as an extension of personal choice and identity – how people use it to define themselves on a surface level. Aesthetically, I am always trying to strike a balance between opposites. I aim to create radically simplified lines and shapes, without seeming simplistic. I want to use easy materials, without sacrificing richness in details. I want the pieces to be challenging in terms of proportion, material and preconceptions about jewelry. They are by no means discrete additions to a wardrobe, and oftentimes require creativity in order for them to be integrated. Above all, I want my designs to be democratic, and for everyone who wears a SAMMA piece to feel a close personal connection with it.”