REINO OLAVI SAASTAMOINEN (b.1928-unknown)

Reino Olavi Saastamoinen, born in Finland in 1928, had well-known silver and goldsmith mentors and graduated with a degree in goldsmithing in 1949. Saastamoinen designed jewelry in his own workshop but only attained national fame in the jewelry world in 1969 with the collection called “Maahiset” (Earth Imp). He won a major design award for the collection comprised of a series of unique pieces that showed the birth of a stone from the bosom of Mother Earth. Centered in each piece was a rough crystal form of various gemstones—amethysts, chalcedony, zoisite, rose quartz, and spectrolite. He used lost-wax casting, and each piece he made was unique. The vast majority of his work was done in silver.

Mahnaz Collection owns a unique, exceptionally rare set of gold and amethyst jewels as well as silver examples of his work.

Visit our exhibition page for “MEDITATIONS ON MODERNISM: Thirty Years of Jewelry Design by Jacqueline Rabun, 1990–2022 and Selections from Notable Post-WWII Nordic Jewelry” to learn more about the innovative and exquisite Nordic jewelry in our collection.