The Light-Hearted Jewelry Pieces of Jamie Carlson

    We admit it, when it comes to design philosophy we’re torn between Japanese quirkiness and Scandinavian minimalism. So when we heard of a brand that combines both aesthetics we couldn’t be more excited.

    SCANDINAZN—a combination of the words “Scandinavian” and “Asian”, is a small brand dedicated to recycled leather jewelry. While the shapes and colors are borrowed from Scandinavian design, the jewelry’s subtle handmade intricacies take note from Japanese art.

    Run by self-taught jewelry maker, Jamie Carlson, the brand echos Carlson’s mixed heritage. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Carlson is part Scandinavian and part Japanese, explaining that “a lot of my design influence comes from those two cultures. The name of my shop is a mashup of my heritage.”

    “My background is in apparel design, but I started experimenting with jewelry during a project at school where I worked with repurposed materials,” she further explained in an interview with the Etsy blog. “I discovered that by cutting leather, I could make some really nice fringe, and from there I moved on to making earrings.”

    According to Carlson, while her jewelry-making process is self-taught, it’s guided by what she was taught about design and construction. The result would fit nicely into our ever-growing jewelry collection.