Kalevala Love Rings

This ring is adorned with a sophisticated cord pattern that originates in a 4th century ring found in Uskela, Southwest Finland. Golden items are rare amongst prehistoric findings in Finland but not entirely unusual. The oldest golden items found their way to the area of present-day Finland in the early centuries of the C.E. also known as the Roman Iron Age. This ancient ring has retained its golden gleam for nearly two millennia. It was made to be everlasting.

The round shape of the ring and the intertwined threads – threads of life – symbolize eternal love. Rings, bracelets and necklaces made by coiling metal wires and threads of different thickness were popular in the entire Baltic region during the last few centuries of the Iron Age. They can be found even among Finland’s prehistoric findings, all the way from the southern coast to the northernmost areas of Lapland. The Kalevala Unity ring is based on a bronze ring found in Halikko.

Golden rings have been gifted and worn as a symbol of eternal love for centuries. Rings with skillfully made lace-like filigree patterns were popular amongst the Swedish ruling class in the 18th century. Some of those rings found their way to the prosperous coastal cities of Finland as, at the time, the country was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden. These rings have been used as a model for many pieces of jewelry in the Kalevala Koru collection since the 1960s. Their timeless beauty stirs deep emotions from generation to generation.

An eternal oath, a promise of tomorrow. An old legend tells of a Viking chieftain who was caught in a violent storm while sailing on a great lake, far from the shore. The chieftain begged the forger of the vault of heaven to save his men from shipwreck. The chieftain and his men were saved and once he was back on the shore, he sacrificed a golden bracelet to the gods above as a token of his gratitude. The sacrificial gift slumbered beneath the beach sand for the next thousand years. The golden bracelet was discovered in Metsäpirtti, Karelia, in the 1920s, and in 1956 jewelry designer Börje Rajalin used the bracelet as a model for a new ring in the Kalevala Koru collection.