Finnish Beast Silver Brooch
Ola Gorie
Made in Orkney
34 mm x 30 mm

Finnish Beast recalls the golden age of the Viking culture, and the powerful and mysterious mythology of our ancestors.

In 1968, a bronze and iron sword with an intricately carved hilt was found in a Viking grave in Suontaka, west of Helsinki. Ola studied the beast’s head, and the interweaving lines that surrounded it, and, after many hours of drawing, came up with the final designs.

She called the collection Finnish Beast - for no one is sure whether the animal portrayed is a horse, a dragon or something even more mysterious. What's certain is that this is one of our most admired collections, with its flowing lines, sculptural depth, and resonant echoes of our Viking past.