Sunday March 1, 2009
The magic of the black moon
By MARTIN VENGADESAN
From the depths of the Finnish winter comes a new watch that is imbued with myths and inspired by life.
SARPANEVA might not be a household name in most parts of the world, but as soon as I touched down in Helsinki, Finland, I found out just how much of an institution it was in this cool Nordic nation.
“Ah Sarpaneva, they make jewellery and cooking items,” said the immigration officer.
Stepan Sarpaneva at the launch of Korona 3 Black Moon. “Sarpaneva is a famous sculptor, and his brother does jewellery,” chimed in my taxi driver.
The name recognition is largely due to brothers Timo and Pentti, whose work in glass and metal art brought them fame during their halycon days which began in the 1950s and ran on through the 70s.
But I was not in Finland to celebrate the works of the past. Instead I was there to appreciate the family’s future, which takes the form of Pentti’s son Stepan.
Stepan Sarpaneva, 39, is fast carving out a niche for himself as a watchmaker. Having first attended the Watchmaking School of Finland (Kelloseppäkoulu) at Tapiola, he then trained for a decade in the watch-making Mecca that is Switzerland.
The haunting image of Lilith which inspired the book Black Is The Moon. Initially studying at the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program (WOSTEP) in Neuchatel, he moved on to work at brands like Piaget, Parmigiani and Christophe Claret. In 2003, he decided to return to his native Finland, opening up a workshop in Helsinki.
He started small, making just a handful of watches by hand.
However it didn’t take long before his watches started attracting the attention of knowledgable watch collectors who appreciated both the uniqueness of his designs and the high quality of his mechanical watches.
“A lot of my designs are inspired by gritty everyday life. The grills on watches like the Korona are rather industrial-looking and funnily enough, this was inspired by my father’s work in jewellery, which very often used rough metallic objects,” said Stepan when I first caught up with him, a day before the launch of his latest watch, the Korona K3 Black Moon.
Sarpaneva also draws his inspiration from his love of heavy metal music! “I was actually watching the Metallica video of Whiskey in the Jar, and there is a scene where we see lead singer James Hetfield with very large chains disappearing into his pocket in a way that we don’t know what is attached. I became intrigued with that and used it for a design.
Traditional watch-making machines at the Sarpaneva workshop. “On another occasion, I became fascinated by the reflection of the moon against the round iron grilles that are around a tree that is near my home and that became the root of the design that is featured strongly in the Korona.
“In general my designs can also be affected by my mood. Perhaps because of the climate, there is a strong note of melancholy that runs through the Finnish spirit, and that perhaps can be seen in the Black Moon watches.
“That is why the moon images in my watches are not bright, smiling happy faces but rather morose ones with glum expressions!”
This year, he plans to expand his trade, without losing that down-to-earth touch that makes Sarpaneva unique. Partly to that end, he has hired two talented young “apprentice watchmakers”, Hanna Karen and Jarmo Pellikka, both of whom graduated from Sarpaneva's alma mater!
The beautiful island fortress of Suomenlinna. “When I say I want to expand, I mean that we might move from 75 watches to around 100. I don’t want Sarpaneva to lose its identity. Even though I now have two young watchmakers with me, everything continues to be hand-made and technical.
“I am very lucky to have them working with me, because they are very talented in their field, and I need such talents to maintain the standards that I am trying to set.”
On a visit to the Sarpaneva workshop – a unique converted cable factory in Helsinki’s industrial area Ruoholahti that now serves as a centre for some of the city’s more creative citizens – I was amused to see his team doing their delicate work to the sounds of groups like Monster Magnet, The Cult and Dio!
The Sarpaneva workshop was rather revealing as it showed that despite Sarpaneva’s rock’n’roll image, he has a deep reverence for the past.
On one wall, we see a picture of his beautiful mother (a model in her youth) wearing his father’s jewellery, while a portrait of 18th century watch-making genius Abraham Louis Breguet, sits above a large bookcase of technical manuals and watchmaker’s encyclopedias.
Even the machines that Sarpaneva uses were imported from Switzerland, after they had fallen into disuse when the big watch-making companies embraced mass production techniques in the 1970s and 80s!
Sarpaneva’s dedication to his family is also evidenced by the fact that his brother Ontrei and cousin Lauri both played roles in his recent launch, while his 2-year-old daughter Piela is a regular visitor to the workshop!
Ironically the name Sarpaneva itself is a made-up one!
Sarpaneva explains, “My grandmother came from the Eastern Border and she didn’t like my grandfather’s surname, so the family came up with one. Literally Sarpaneva means something like ‘hay swamp’!”
Well aware that most economic markers indicate that we are in for tough times, Sarpaneva is not one to be cowed by the prospect of failure.
“Right now, the company is so young and small, and we can take risks. Now is the time to build up our name. You have to have faith in your designs. The target is not to please everybody.
“The watch industry is small to begin with, the point is to get the right people interested. I have noticed that Asian people react very well to my watches and seem to appreciate my designs more.”
Indeed Malaysia Tong Chee Wei, CEO of Haute 5, is Sarpaneva’s exclusive distributor for the Asian market. The pair met at the Basel Watch, Clock & Jewellery Fair and hit it off.
Tong, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, explained, “As soon as I saw his watches, I knew that it is only a matter of time before they catch on one day, and I desperately wanted to be part of that. But this is not just about dollars and cents, but appreciating the quality of an artist. How could anyone look at the designs and not fall in love with them?”
Where others might simply choose to have a comfortable cocktail launch with fanfares and fireworks, Sarpaneva decided to celebrate the Ceremony of the Black Moon, bringing journalists from around the world to sub-zero temperatures to witness his latest creation.
We were taken through the dark woods (bearing in mind that in Finland, the sun sets before 5 during the cold winter months) on the island of Suomenlinna in the Baltic Sea to witness the launch of Sarpaneva’s latest watch.
Aside from the technical skill that went into the creation of the Korona 3 Black Moon (see sidebar on technical specifications), another unique aspect of the watch is that it comes with a limited edition book.
Entitled Black is the Moon, it is based on the myth of Lilith and features a poem by Mikko Mäkinen, along with eight black and white illustrations done by Ville Tietäväinen.
The book, signed and numbered by Sarpaneva, is printed on exclusive uncoated white paper in a French style folded binding, with a black leather hardcover and a dust jacket. This book was literally printed and hand-bound by candlelight during the darkness of the Finnish winter months!
At the moment, there are just 20 Korona 3 Black Moons (and the book Black is the Moon) in the world, but rest assured, as more and more people fall in love with Sarpaneva’s magic, we can expect further delights to emerge from the icy winterland.
> Sarpaneva’s Korona 3 Black Moon will soon be available at a price of RM66,800, while the Korona K3 Red Gold Moon is currently available at RM50,600. For details please visit
Related story:
Korona K3 Black Moon
Source:
RSS
