Hovden Wear - BLOG

Day 16 we went back to the Nidaros Cathedral with our friends.  We went to another kids play and did some coloring in the cathedral.  There was a cool scanner set up where the kids would color something and then their pictures would get projected onto the cathedral wall.  Very fun.

We finished up our trip by visiting the lovely town of Trondheim.  Our good family friends, Kari and Daniel, moved to Trondheim the week before from Spokane, and so our goal was to not only see the sights, but also to welcome them to Norway.

The next day we felt a little better, so we went to Ulsrud farm. Ulsrud is kind of like a mini version of Maihaugen.  The man who lived there willed the whole farm to the Gausdal History Society and when he died, it became a museum.  There was an art exhibition by local artists, hand-knit mittens, locally made cheese for sale, and games for the kids.  We also got to go inside the old farm buildings and hear about Gausdal through the ages.

The next day we went to Maihaugen in Lillehammer. Maihaugen is a collection of old farm buildings from around Gudbrandsdalen. Some of the buildings are on their own, others are part of a grouping that came from a single farm.  There is also a section that has houses from different areas, including the current Queen´s childhood home.

We met up by the tiger, which is a classic meeting spot in Oslo.  Then, from Oslo S, we starting walking up Carl Johans Gate towards the Palace. My daughter was very excited to see the palace!  Along the way we stopped at Stortinget to admire the lions. It started to rain pretty hard, so we stopped at a bookstore called Ark to pick up a few Norwegian language books.  They were having summer sales, so we were able to get some good books at low prices.

Sylvsmidja is now the leading producer of bunad sølv in Norway. They are still focused on craftsmanship, quality, and history. They create items with origin stories that go back to the 1300s, as well as modern day items. Now they are letting people know that these jewelry items are not just for bunads, but can be used with modern clothing as well.

A zero waste garment is a piece of clothing that is produced without creating, and ultimately throwing away, extra material.  It is a difficult task, and one that many designers and companies don´t care to take on.  For Hovden Wear, it comes completely naturally.

Cultural sustainability ... has to do with the maintaining of cultural beliefs, cultural practices, heritage conservation, culture as its own entity....

  The busserull workshirt, which Hovden has been making for 3 years, was a man’s shirt (although today it is gender neutral). We decided it was ti...

  We are proud to announce the Hovden Art Project, where artists create one or more pieces of art that encompasses Hovden and the busserull shirts ...