I read Edward Morgan Forster’s (1879-1970) Howards End (1910) during the 1966-7 school year. The phrase, Only Connect, is associated with Margaret Schlegel, the novel’s protagonist. For Margaret, the most important quality in a person is an ability to connect their Inner life with their Outer life. Yes, in the novel inner and outer are capitalized. Other characters, notably Leonard Bast and Henry Wilcox, initially fail to connect, but for different reasons. However, they end up making a connection out of necessity at the end of the novel. This connecting destroys them both. Part of the process of living is to learn how to make these important connections. Throughout my life, I have ended up thinking about this novel on numerous occasions.
For the rest of this post, I want to concentrate on one design, one designer and one location. They are: Maya flatware, Tias Eckhoff (1926 – 2016) and Vestre Slidre. In addition I will add some other people including one Norwegian novelist, Knut Hauge (1911 – 1999 )and his novel, Nymåne over Filefjell (1955) = New Moon over File Mountain, except both File and Fjell refer to the same word, so it should be: New Moon over Mountain Mountain.
Let me begin with a feeling of astonishment. I was absolutely certain that I had written about these topics previously. After all, they are all about as close to my Norwegian soul as anyone can get. Unfortunately, no amount of searching, even using misspelled words, resulted in a reference to any post. My contention is that household (Outer) objects should embody a connection with an (Inner) soul. Designed objects, that a person chooses, are not just random things, but items carefully selected for a reason.
The next step in this story is in 1973 when I discovered a newly opened housewares shop in Vancouver’s Gastown, Karelia, named after an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia, Finland and Sweden. It is currently divided between northwestern Russia and Finland.
While Janis Kravis (1935 – 2020) was studying architecture in Toronto, he became aware of Scandinavian architecture and, especially, the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976), who had a humanist approach to architecture, and a scope that encompassed everything from city planning to housewares. In 1959, Kravis found that Finnish products were largely unavailable in Canada. He approached about twenty companies and integrated their products into his Toronto studio/ store that opened in 1960. A Vancouver branch opened in 1973. The company closed down in the 1980s.
One product that I bought at Karelia, and at other places including a shop in New Westminster, was Maya flatware. It was purchased one place setting at a time. I appreciated it for several reasons. It fit my large hands comfortably. It was made of stainless steel, worked at its assigned tasks effectively, and looked attractive. Maya had been designed by the Norwegian industrial designer Tias Eckhoff. It was manufactured in Bergen, Norway. After we moved to Norway, we increased the number of place setting from about six to twelve in the 1980s. Thus, about half of the flatwear is about fifty years old, the rest forty years old. My estimate is that it will last somewhere between one and two centuries. Yes, I will be very disappoined if my children sell or discard it.
Tias Eckhoff was born in Vestre Slidre, which is about 9 hours driving/ 900 km south west of Cliff Cottage. It is on the E16 highway that connects western and eastern Norway. The village is on a main west–east highway that runs through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden. I have driven the Norwegian section of it several times. I regularly dream about driving through tunnels, including one on the E16 highway, the Lærdal Tunnel, 24.51 km long, the longest road tunnel in the world. It was the final link completing the main highway that now enables car travel between Oslo and Bergen with no ferry connections and no difficult mountain crossings during winter. So when other mountain passes are closed, the E16 remains open. Gradually, Norwegian tunnel dreams are replacing my standard Canadian dream, where I am running an Esso fuel station on Highway 15, in Cloverdale, Surrey, British Columbia. Note: power station is now the correct term in Norway, since electricity is being offered along with gasoline and diesel. Prices for all three are now on display.
Filefjell is famous in Norway for its mountain road, the Filefjell King’s road, It is named for Sverre Sigurdsson (c. 1145/1151 – 1202) who was the king of Norway from 1184 to 1202. There has been an official road there since 1791.
It took me many years to read Nymåne over Filefjell. It is sometimes referred to as a thriller that takes place on an isolated farm, in the middle of winter. I started it in 1981, and gave up on it several times. I finally completed it about 2000. The main problem is that it is written in that other Norwegian written language, Nynorsk = New Norwegian, while I read and write Bokmål. I find it easier to read Bokmål, Danish or Swedish (in that order) than Nynorsk.
When I am enjoying a meal, most often using Maya flatware, I have many thoughts flowing through my brain. I am thinking of E. M. Forster, and the novel Howards End. I am also thinking of Knut Hauge, and the novel, Nymåne over Filefjell. I am thinking of tunnels that interconnect west and east, as well as interconnections between the outside and inside worlds. Sometimes, I am even thinking about Esso or Circle K power stations! Increasingly, I think about who will be inheriting the Maya flatware, and the novels.