Shrinking pot

Shrinking pot

Decorated shrinking pot with lid, made from birch, Painted blue with flaxseed oil and pigment.

1220

craftedobjects,varmlandmap

iain

Swedish

Physical Object

610

Krympburk

02/09/2025

08/09/2025

https://sokisamlingar.sormlandsmuseum.se/objects/c24-291345/ https://butiken.sormlandsmuseum.se/duka-forvara/burk-med-skuren-dekor-stor.html https://www.svenskttenn.com/se/en/designers/designer-frej-lonnfors/

cm x 13cm x 12cm

current,60.7137084,15.0534981;

TEXT

1334

Birch

Cultural

woodwork

Saw, wood auger, gouge, plane, marking gauge, axe, brace, knife and v shaped carving knife.

Ullvi, Dalarna, Sweden

Ullvi, Dalarna

A fresh material of birch stem is hollowed out and whittled clean. A track out of one end is made and a dry bottom is fixed. As the material dries, it shrinks and holds the bottom in place. The lid is cut with an axe and then finished with whittling from a birch plank. The knob is split and carved from a piece of birch. When the pot is done, the carving is made. Painted with flax seed oil paint.

Storage of dry food or of objects.

Since 2013 it's made for Sörmlands museum (regional museum). There's an original in their collection, with an unknown age.

When the museum has sold out their pots, a new batch is made. Usually every five years.

The orignal pot was probably a purely decorative object. It's cut geometical shapes are a commonly found way of decorating older, peasant objects. Lonnfors has also said: “I think a fascination with these objects is deeply rooted within us. Jars, boxes, urns and pots have been so important to us for so long, from the storing of food to the final resting place in the burial urn. Sometimes I toy with the idea that the pots standing there are like small temple buildings or reliquaries, ready to hold all sorts of secrets… or perhaps simply coffee.”

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