Background information:

Ms Liina Sillanpää is a recently graduated designer specialized in the field of glass design. As her final graduation project -between July and October 2004-, she designed unique pieces of jewellery with the collaboration of Peruvian silversmiths Fredy Rodríguez Calle and José Flores Medina. They based their inspiration for their imaginative jewellery on Peruvian, Finno-Ugric and Scandinavian mythologies using Finnish glass and Peruvian silver as their materials.

The Project:

Liina Sillanpää travelled to Peru in order to fulfil the required period of field practices in 2002. With the help of the Embassy of Finland in Peru, Liina found a working place in “Chirapaq”, The Centre of Indians of Peru, in the southern region of Ayacucho.

For several months, Liina worked for a project of Chirapaq called “Noqanchiq” (Ourselves in Quechua). Her every-day work in Peru consisted mainly of teaching arts and crafts to children from poor neighbourhoods and small villages of Ayacucho.

Around this time Ms Sillanpää met the Peruvian artist Fredy Rodriguez Calle and became impressed by his peculiar silver craft. They agreed on working together
for a project in the future. 

Two years later, when it was time for Liina to choose the subject for her final project, she again contacted Fredy Rodríguez who accepted to start this project.

Fredy, who now was part of the Association “Qori Willka” (Descendents of the Gold), suggested that another outstanding silversmith, José Flores Medina would collaborate with them in the project.

These three artists looked for inspiration both from Peruvian and Scandinavian mythology. The bonding between these Peruvian artisans and a Finnish designer and the ways in which their ideas worked well together from the very start, make this project very unique and original.

The first phase of the project was based on Finnish inspiration. Harmonic forms of glass were crafted with different techniques, for example with tack fusing, mouth blowing and forming pearls with gas in Hämeenlinna and Nuutajärvi, Finland. 

The second phase started when Ms Liina Sillanpää travelled to Ayacucho and started to collaborate in both designing and making the silver parts
for the pieces of jewellery.

Eight beautiful pieces of jewellery were made as the result of this project, each one of them with a special story to tell. Peruvian and Finnish mythologies tangled together forming fresh and precious pieces of art.