In the Studio with Louise Bankander

The sun peeks out, almost a little teasingly. The cobblestones are shiny after the rain. It seems as though autumn has reached Hornstull. I meet Louise in her studio in the middle of preparations for Stockholm Craft Week.

She is doing quite well and after a long summer break she neither wants to nor can tear herself away from working on the pieces. She wants to tie it all together somehow. Exactly how, she does not really know yet but her eyes say that it is going to be good, it is mostly play and a little seriousness.

Louise talks about her process – how she takes the time to explore again what perhaps there was not time for before, what seemed finished but then turned out not to be finished at all. She says that quite often there are no words for the work she devotes herself to and even though I understand and agree, and even though words are not really needed to experience her craft, her words take up space with the same natural ease as the high heels against the white backdrop that is currently acting as the window display at the WOS store on Hornsgatan.

For the exhibition, Louise has revisited old collections and sketches to let them bloom again or create new works from all the material that emerges in the constant design process that is about exploring and developing. She loves to stage an image or a fantasy. Builds, sews, sculpts with shapes and materials such as leather, wood and metal.

— I am happy to get stuck in the workshop with the pieces. When you experiment as much as I do, there is also often a lot that does not make it out. I want to create new stories from it.

The Virginia creeper is changing into its autumn colour, because it is always Burgundy, isn’t it? Sure enough, plenty of shades of red, from pastel rose to lush plum, worn leather sofa and Pinot Noir dress both sculptures and jewellery in the studio overlooking idyllic Långholmen. In Louise’s illustrative universe, colour plays a big role, even if it sometimes has a small role it is not a supporting role. It is fun if a colour clashes or surprises a little. Stands out. Just like jewellery, colour can enhance and convey feelings, thoughts or entire ideas with very small means.

Louise would rather not put things into a category. With an education from Beckmans and several preparatory art schools she moves freely between disciplines and materials. The jewellery is small sculptures and the sculptures are large jewellery. Her craft is a play with dimensions, colour and materials – but above all with movement and with the body as a canvas.

— Everything sort of chains together, links together, Louise says and I think about how the chain she has on her trousers dangles as she moves some of the pieces around, it is the same as the chain on the back of the red high heel. She has painted it with red lacquer first and then carefully sanded away the colour to get that worn oxblood red look, like a pair of favourite boots you do not want to throw away even though your socks get wet when it rains.

— They have always been there. It becomes like an imprint. As if someone has left the room or is there somewhere. Shoes have always inspired Louise and I get the feeling that the high heels dance around up here among the rooftops in the evenings. A delicate hand in brown satin raises two fingers for peace in a mirror. Another hand in mustard yellow plywood waves at me to follow it up onto the dance floor.

It has stopped raining, again, and equally inspired and filled with desire I thank Louise for letting me spend a moment in her world. Just one last question:

— What do you hope someone will feel when they put on your jewellery?

— I hope they will believe in themselves, that they will feel encouraged and happy. Feel good.

Her work fills me with equal parts inspiration and desire and they are as much art as craft and jewellery: clean architectural jewellery in natural materials, Plexiglas wrapped in thousands of silk ribbons, illustrative high heels in cork oak, colourful statement pieces and homemade Barbie clothes in animal print that perhaps will get to become a sculpture when they grow up. If only they dare to take up a little more space.

I try on a necklace with a shiny peace sign in rave green to feel a little cooler before I leave. The rather thick black cord reminds me of the name necklaces we wore in middle school. I wish the high heels came in size 42, preferably the ones where the heel has been dipped in sticky lemon yellow. Louise serves lemonade and cardamom pastries, Chocolate with chilli. That little something extra that clashes again. She tells me that she has actually thought about making real shoes. The prototype with a plum coloured platform and a steel detail that almost looks like a belly button piercing stands on the spice shelf together with small figurines and mint green rockabilly pumps.