Jewellery Jewellery houses Trollbeads
People's Bead
The yearly Trollbeads bead designed by a collector and chosen by public vote, then made and sold as part of the collection.
- Made by
- Trollbeads
- First made
- 2009
Pictures © Trollbeads, from trollbeads.com.
Why it is renowned
The People's Bead is Trollbeads' open design contest: each year fans from all over the world send in a drawing of a bead, and the public votes for the winner.1 The American trade paper National Jeweler covered its tenth year in 2018, when a jury cut the entries to 24 before two rounds of online voting.1 Winners have come from Hong Kong, Italy and the United Kingdom; the winner receives a designer's fee and a gold version of the winning bead.1
The story
Lise Aagaard of Trollbeads began the People's Bead in 2009, asking fans to send in designs once a year on a set theme.1 The winning design is put into production; in 2012 there were eleven winners, and they were launched as a whole collection.2 Recent winners include Peach Blossom of 2022, a glass bead with small pale pink petals on an orange branch, and Atom of Unity of 2023, a sterling silver bead in the form of a molecule of three atoms.3
Sources
- Trollbeads Opens Up its People's Bead Contest, National Jeweler. nationaljeweler.com, read 5 October 2026.
- Troldekugler, Wikipedia (Danish). da.wikipedia.org, read 5 October 2026.
- People's Bead winners over the years, Trollbeads. trollbeads.com, read 5 October 2026.
Last checked 5 October 2026, against the maker's own pages.