Troll Beads- Your Unique Jewelry

I prefer to write about smaller design companies rather than high street brands but once in a while a larger brand can have a unique product. I have had some involvement with the Danish company Troll Beads. I do have to say I was surprised at both the quality and design content of their products, which does feature one-off unique beads.

Their story started in Denmark in 1976. The first bead, which later gave name to the Troll Beads collection, was a small bead decorated with six faces of trolls. It was designed by Søren Silversmith and sold from his father Svend's jewelry shop in central Copenhagen. The beads were created at a time where it was fashionable to have a silver bead hanging on a leather thong around the neck. But instead of letting the bead hang in an eyelet, Søren wanted to let the leather cord go through the bead. Later on, Søren's sister, Lise, began to put the beads on silver bracelets, one on each bracelet, customers then started to request extra beads. Until the year 2000 the family designed the full range. However, to increase the diversity of the collection, ten famous Danish jewelry designers were invited to make a signature Troll Bead and today many of these designers still continue to work with the company. In 2001 the first glass beads, made of Italian glass where featured and have since built up a huge following worldwide.

From this original starting point the collection has grown to include; bracelets, charms and beads, bangles, necklaces, rings and earrings. The concept of personalised jewelry where you can add your favorite beads to your jewelry pieces has continued and been copied by many other well-known retailers. Today Troll Beads are sold in more than thirty countries. The full collection features over 600 different beads designed by ninety internationally renowned designers in collaboration with the Nielsen/Aagaard family, who are still actively involved in production and the design process.

Many customers have become quite serious about their Troll Bead collections and have formed clubs and hold online forums. An annual design competition enabled customers to design a bead which is then put into production and sold in the collection.

Despite the growth of the business, they have stayed true to both the original conception and the needs and wishes of their customer base. Creativity and the chance to experiment and change your jewelry easily, is as true today as it was in 1976. I think this is something quite rare and to able to continue to produce a well-designed product with love is unique in today’s climate.

 Have fun creating….Sara x