Disarmingly Charming: Ole Lynggaard

I have been waiting for the perfect moment to write about Ole Lynggaard and finally my patience has paid off, as this month White Line Hotels shines its light on Copenhagen. Maybe, if you’re Danish, or if you shop at Harvey Nichols in London quite a lot, you may already have discovered these lovely pieces of handcrafted jewellery. If you haven’t, then let me enlighten you. First of all we have to rewind back to March of this year when the day job took me on a visit to Baselworld.  After dutifully visiting all the relevant watch brands on their mind-bogglingly large and shiny stands, we were staggered not only by the splendour of it all, but also by how the luxury market is so obviously not undergoing any kind of economic crisis whatsoever.

Not really being much of a jewellery girl, I resisted to the other half’s insistence on “going upstairs to take a look at the jewellery bit” only to surrender with the promise of a coffee and a sit down. So up we glided on the escalator and started looking at the stands. I yawned, and nothing, no matter how glittery, caught my eye until we came upon a large corner stand which was literally humming with excitement. As I took in the visual display I got that familiar feeling when you just know you’ve come across something special. My symptoms were the usual ones: quickening of breath accompanied by slow-motion movements as all sounds are drowned out by an irrepressible internal giddiness whilst waves of panic sweep over me (in a good way) and I realise I have to somehow contain the excitement within and maintain the look of the professional. I grabbed the other half’s arm speaking to him mechanically, under my breath: “This could take a while” and off I went, pretending hard to be cool, calm and collected. The stand was exquisite in that unnerving effortless way; it was all pure grace and natural style (Scandinavians are born with it, dear readers. Effortless style and coolness is part of their DNA. Fact.). The flowers, the images, the expert lighting, the huge sofas, the generous and vast lengths of chocolate brown drapey fabric and of course the undeniable beauty of the jewellery itself… it was almost too much for me – too amazing. I could hardly move. HOW had I not heard of Ole Lynggaard?  In spite of all this gushing, I must admit that the experience, no matter how fantastically styled and presented the stand and the products were, would have been much less powerful without the people.

This is a family business, founded by Ole Lynggaard, a goldsmith who initially studied and worked in San Francisco, New York, Paris, Germany and Japan. When he returned to Denmark in 1963, Lynggaard opened his own workshop. Since then he has been joined by his daughter Charlotte in 1992, also a goldsmith and designer, as well as by his son Soren who took over management of the company in 2003. Charlotte’s husband Michel Norman came on board in 2006 as commercial director.

And they were all there on the stand. The whole family, all beautiful, blond and disarmingly charming. Soren Lynggaard was the first I had the pleasure of speaking to – a genuinely friendly conversation that was so far removed from the usual hard sell, that by the end of it I probably would have bought pretty much anything from him (he had me at “Hello”).  My second chat was with the PR & Communications Manager, an impossibly tall and beautiful creature, dressed in a taupe cashmere skintight dress with sky high heels (and heavily pregnant) who thoroughly enjoyed taking me through the company’s history,  Charlotte’s philosophy and designs as well as the company’s long established Royal connection. A romantic and completely fascinating story of a passionate and creative family who has carefully and lovingly created a very unique luxury brand. If you visit the website by clicking here, you’ll fall in love too, I know it.  See the new collection on the stunning limbs of Helena Christensen, the brand new ambassador for Ole Lynggaard. The company has always carefully chosen to collaborate with women who have achieved remarkable results in their lives, who are confident in their own skin. Helena Christensen seems a superbly well-appointed choice, you’ll agree.

I have, since that day at Baselworld in March of this year, decided that I am indeed very much a jewellery girl. If the other half happens to be reading this, he’d maybe like to go and see the “Lotus” collection, please.

Need more proof of that DNA-programmed style and coolness? Every bit as disarmingly charming, White Line Hotels Edit Avenue Hotel is all you need.

————————————————

Contributing writer: Stefanie Soar

Photos courtesy Ole Lynggaard

Be Sociable, Share!

•