Re-Handle by Helena Johansson Lindell

Artist list

Helena Johansson Lindell

Helena Johansson Lindell makes jewellery with a lowbrow attitude and predilection for things kitschy. She struggles with the hierarchical structures that we are collectively immersed in: the ideas that some things, some ways, and some people are better or worth more than others. In her work Lindell tries to embrace the materials, the methods and qualities that, from a societal perspective, are considered low class, low status, or bad taste. This is her way to try and repeal the prejudice that is a result of those hierarchies. Helena Johansson Lindell picks up materials from flea markets and second-hand shops, plastics mostly and occasionally wood - toys and kitchenware. She cuts them up and builds new shapes from them using a saw, glue, and a file.

She says: The inspiration I find is in the material itself. Plastic, for example is often vilified, looked upon as something evil in itself. An alternative would be for us, collectively, to take responsibility for how we treat plastic. Bad taste is something that motivates me.
Lindell enjoys simple and repetitive techniques, as they create space for her intuition. The artist intention is to create jewellery that affects the body before the intellect. Lust is always present, either as a method or as the shapes turn sensual or erotic. Lindell wants her work to infuse a sense of permission, that everything is allowed and without judgment.


Helena Johansson Lindell is a jewellery artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. Lindell studied Jewelry at the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts & Design in Stockholm, Sweden and earned a BA in Visual Art from Oslo National Academy of the Arts in Norway. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, USA, Asia (Bangkok) and South America (Brazil). Recently her jewellery was a part of the Schmuck Special Show 2017 in Munich.