Trollbeads

Why it is renowned

Trollbeads has made beads to be threaded one by one onto a bracelet since 1976 and sells them as the original of the idea.¹² It first sold abroad in 2003, in Hong Kong, the United States and Spain, and is now sold in more than 40 countries.¹ In the United States it sells through its own subsidiary, Trollbeads United States.¹ The American trade magazine JCK reported in 2012 on a Trollbeads event at a jeweller in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where 239 collectors came to watch the Danish designer Mette Saabye carve beads in wax and sign their catalogues.³

The story

The silversmith Søren Nielsen designed the first bead, Faces, six faces in silver, in 1976; his sister Lise Aagaard built the business around it.¹² Gold beads came in 1988 and glass beads in 2001, and from 2000 outside designers were invited in; more than 60 now design for the house.¹ Most silver beads are cast by the lost-wax method.¹ The company, Troldekugler A/S, has its head office on Toldbodgade in Copenhagen and is run by Niels Robin Aagaard.²

What to know it by

• Faces¹1976Søren NielsenThe first bead, six faces in silver
• Glass beads¹2001Coloured glass beads
• Fantasy Necklace¹2003A necklace to hang beads and pendants on
• People's Bead²A yearly bead chosen by public vote