Norwegian jeweler Millie Behrens seeks to explore the tension between nature and culture. She combines pebbles, found on beaches throughout Europe, with gold and silver to create necklaces, bracelets, and rings that involve several senses. Behrens prizes the visual beauty of the smoothly rounded stones, which have been shaped over millennia by the movement of the sea, as well as their warmth and sensual feel when they touch the skin.

Behrens attended The National Academy of Arts in Oslo, graduating in 1983, along with Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Canada, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Dear Isle, Maine. She has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions and been included in many group shows, most recently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2017); The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (2014 and 2018); and seven times in the prestigious annual International Art Fair, Collect, sponsored by the Saatchi Gallery in London. Behrens has worked as a jewelry designer for the noted Norwegian silversmith’s firm of David Andersen. From 2000-2014, she had a commission to make jewelry, and even a tiara, for the Queen of Norway. Since 1983, Behrens has operated an independent studio in Sandvika, outside of Oslo.

Rings, pebble, 18k gold

Prayer. Necklace, pebbles, nylon, silver

Double Touch. Bracelet, pebbles, 18k gold laminate