Levi Petrus Borgstrom (7 November 1919 – 25 July 2001) was a Swedish-

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

carver.

Early life

Borgstrom was born in

Lycksele Lycksele (; ; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Lycksele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland (Sweden), Lapland, Sweden with 8,513 inhabitants in 2010. History Until the 1600s there were no settled ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1919. As a teenager, he began using his father's tools to carve wooden cutlery and crockery and was strongly influenced by

Saami The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several A ...

and

Norrland Norrland (, , originally ''Norrlanden'', meaning 'the Northlands') is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administrative p ...

settler culture. His career was largely focused upon spoon carving.

Career

In 1951, he moved to New Zealand and began incorporating New Zealand resources into his

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n-influenced works. He used New Zealand and introduced timbers in his works, including

kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...

, tānekaha, akeake, rewarewa, mānuka, macrocarpa, cherry wood,

privet A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each ...

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

, and silky oak. Borgstrom worked by drawing a design on a piece of wood and roughly creating the shape using a Scandinavian bow saw. He would then use knives and chisels to further refine the carving, followed by work with files and rasps. The final stages of creating a spoon included sanding, waxing and oiling.

Collections

His work is held in the collection of the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum (), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory ...

and the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

References

1919 births 2001 deaths Swedish emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand carvers People from Lycksele Municipality {{NewZealand-artist-stub