Text: Sandra Kemppainen, Nanna Salmi
Photos: Mardo Männing, Teemu Töyrylä, Nanna Salmi
Living in Lahti, Finland, Nanna Salmi has worked with weaved cotton and wool her entire life. She began working with horse hair 13 years ago, inspired while brushing her horses’ tail and thought perhaps she could weave the hair caught in the brush.
“Sometimes, while grooming Nitte and brushing her tail, I would hold her tail hair in my hand and wonder if it would be possible to make a strong ribbon using her hair, and that it would be interesting to try to do something that nobody had done or seen before. But I never tried, since there were so many projects I was already working on. The idea was like a wavering morning mist... it appeared and then disappeared again.” - Nanna
When she had perfected the technique, she decided to make a bracelet with a golden bit (Mistral - below) for the barn’s owner as a gift. They gathered the hair from three generations of the owner’s mares and created the gift, which brought tears of joy into the owner’s eyes.
Nanna strives to design jewelry which is simple and pure. The main feature of her pieces is of course the hair belonging to the horse. The metal parts surrounding the hair and ribbons have to be like frames. There are two kinds of jewelleries in her collection, those obvious horse gear related designs and the others, more classic ones, where horse hair plays the main role as a material and designs are not obviously horse related.
“The goldsmith was an inspiring coworker, and my friends assured me that what I did was something very special. I felt truely fortunate: For a designer or an artesan it´s very, very rare to come up with a genuine new idea, most of us never do. I was lucky, really lucky. And I´m greatful for that.”
Once there was a young husband who wanted a bracelet made for her wife when their first child was born. She hadn´t been able to ride for a couple of months and the baby was going to keep her busy also in the future. Her husband thought that it would be a wonderful gift to his wife to let her like carry her beloved horse around her wrist.
In her workshop there are horsehair bunches hanging on the wall, drawings on the desk. Small plastic bags with names on them and in those bags there is always a small bundle of horsehair: tail hairs from the customers. Some of them also have pictures of the horses.
“Sometimes the content of the bag can be quite rousing... I have received hair with blood on and that tells me that something very sad and terrible has happened. Usually, when I receive the hair, I already know a lot about the horse: the name, the character, “the job” etc. People tell a lot about their beloved ones when ordering the jewellery. It is very rewarding to be in a close contact with customers. I hear a lot of stories and often it is discussed which pattern would both reflect the horses’ temper and be the best for that specific item.”
"When I was a kid, all I wanted for Christmas – every Christmas – was a horse. Actually, a pony. A black Dales pony. With 2 white feet and a star. Not that I thought about it much.
I spent a great deal of my childhood in denial about the possibility of owning a pony: we spent half the year in Florida and half in Canada, which is not an inexpensive proposition for my imaginary pony and my parents.
Fifteen years later, after graduating from university, I visited a ranch in San Diego to enquire about riding lessons. One of the first horses I was introduced to was a green-broke 15.1hh bay Arabian mare named Myriah.
When we approached the gate, she came racing in from her pasture to say hello, so very pleased to have attention and so very excited at the possibility of treats. It was love at first sight. I became a working student and my project was Myriah. Three months later, she was offered to me for purchase and I jumped on the chance quicker than you can say “unrequited pony dreams.”
And so, for almost 15 years, I was the proud mother of a brave, sweet, amazing Arabian mare. We moved thousands of miles together, from sunny southern California to steamy South Carolina to snowy Quebec. She carried me through woods and over streams and down roads and in rings; she kept me company patiently through 2 pregnancies and 4 houses and years of midlife growing pains and life-consuming entrepreneurship. That mare braved bears and deer and horse-eating cows for me; she could float 3 feet off the ground like the hotest halter horse and seconds later be gentle as a lamb with my 3 year old son. She had such a special combination of fire and softness.
I saw her through Cushings, sweet itch, navicular and devastating laminitis. I could treat an abscess with my eyes closed (and so could my 2 year old – I caught her applying diapers to her rocking horse’s feet more than once). I learned to a million ways to disguise the taste of bute and where to get pills of pergolide that she would actually swallow. I researched supplements and hoof boots endlessly.
Even during the years she was retired, and we could not ramble the country roads together as often as we both would have liked, I was just as excited to greet her at the pasture gate as I was way back in San Diego. I know she watched for me too, and sometimes after dinner she would walk up behind me and rest her chin on top of my head and we’d watch the evening fade together.
I lost her this year. We won so many battles but we finally lost the war.
So it turns out that my true dream horse was not black, not Dales, and had no star. She did have two white feet though.
And she was perfect."
Tamara, CAN
Nanna’s horsehair jewellery is worn around the world on cross country tracks, desert trails and show arenas. Clientele include little jumper girls, Olympic and World champions - along with hundreds of riders, who love their horse. The collections are designed by Nanna Salmi, who is both a designer and master weaver.
This unique collection has been crafted using ancient techniques and materials - woven horsehair and diamonds with silver, gold, white gold and platinum - combining old world craftsmanship with contemporary modern design.
Nanna's unique designs have been displayed in shows such as Hampton Classic, WEF Wellington, WEG Kentucky, Hickstead Dressage, Longines Royal International Horse Show, CSI-W Geneva, GCT Monaco, Valkenswaard and Athens, CSI Amsterdam, Internationales Festhallen Reitturnier Frankfurt and of course Dublin Horse Show.
Nanna´s customers are both Finnish and international top riders, royalty and heiresses, the ordinary riders and horse owners... But one thing is common and the most important one: They all love their horses almost more than anything else in the world!
See her work on her website or on her Facebook page.
