This is my very good friend Stephan (pronounced "STEF-en) Hoglund. Don't call him Steve. There used to be a video on YouTube that was an absolutely perfect intro. I wonder if I can persuade him to put it back.
He's a jeweler and a photographer back home in Grand Marais (we're back in Chicago now). He's been in business for scads of time. This last trip, he went on a long rant about how he's the oldest independent art gallery something or other.... I dunno. I wasn't paying attention to the details. Stephan goes on lots of rants.
He makes absolutely beautiful jewelry that evokes the north shore of Lake Superior. He uses all sorts of native stones, from lovely beach rocks, to Thomsonite, to Isle Royale Greenstone, my personal favorite.
I've got more Stephan stories than I can count. He's like that. Makes good stories. But don't tell him that, because that'll just make him feel important. Shh!
Anyway, greenstones remind me of my engagement ring, which Stephan didn't make.
Adam gave me a ring with a gold/green sapphire. His grandma had received the sapphire in trade from someone from the House of Baskerville (or so the story went) for four Isle Royale greenstones back when she was working out on the island, cooking at a lodge.
We weren't really sure what the stone was when I got it, and I took it into Stephan (whom I barely knew at the time) for identification. He took one look at it, and told me that it was in grave danger of falling out of its setting. He promptly took it out, popped it into a little plastic baggy, and gave it to me. I put it somewhere Important. Still can't find it.... hmmm maybe telling this story is going to get me in trouble.
Well, anyway, I've always wanted one of Stephan's greenstone rings or pendants. You can't really tell from pictures how utterly luminous the stones are. They're a bit like peering into a magic eye that's peering in the soul of the forest, and he sets them just beautifully.
The best Stephan story of all, though, involves one of his custom art pieces.
(isn't this one absolutely beautiful?)
A woman from the Twin Cities ordered a piece, paid for it, and picked it up. She wore it for months. On her next trip to Grand Marais, sometime after she had owned the piece, she and her husband brought it back for a return. She told Stephan that she didn't like the way it hung.
He said that since it was a custom piece, she couldn't return it. She was furious. Many words were exchanged, and Stephan can really exchange words well when he gets hot under the collar.
The argument went on for a while. Eventually he said, "FINE!! Here's your money!"
They left the shop. Just as they settled into their little luxury auto, Stephan stormed up to the car, rapped the piece of jewelry on the windshield of their car, marched across the street to the harbor, and threw it in the lake.
Nice.
His pieces are available on-line through his shop, or in a brick and mortar format in Grand Marais. He does take custom orders.(EM)
Other: www.moesewco.etsy.com
that the real answers would probably only disappoint me.
