Vivianna Torun Bülow- Hübe

Caroline Cox, Vintage Jewellery: Collecting and Wearing Designer Classics, 2022, p.125 for a similar pebble necklace 

Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe (1927 – 2004) was one of the most prominent female silversmiths of the 20^th century and was the first female silversmith in Sweden to own her own workshop. She designed what she called anti-status jewellery incorporating pebbles, granite, rocks and less valuable semi-precious stones such as moonstone into her work. She intended her jewellery not to show off a husband's wealth instead accentuate the wearer, believing that jewellery ‘must not overwhelm, but enhance you. This is why it must be timeless. It shouldn't matter if you are 17 or 87 years old’.

She often visited Paris before settling there in 1956. She met Picasso while walking a riverside beach in Paris collecting pebbles for some of her designs and in 1958 she exhibited pieces similar to this necklace at the Picasso Museum in Antibes. This piece is accompanied by a box signed Galerie du Siecle which was in St Germain-des-Pres in Paris where her works were permanently displayed between 1954 and 1968.

In 1967 she produced a watch with Georg Jensen which had no dials or straps, becoming one of her most famous designs. From then on Georg Jensen handled the production of her designs. On November 5, 1992, Torun was awarded the Prince Eugen medal by King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden. The medal is bestowed for outstanding artistic achievement. She had a number of well known clients such as Brigette Bardot and Billie Holiday.