When you walk in the door to Hornvarefabrikken's shop and workshop in Bøvlingbjerg, you step into a world of colors, shapes and old craft traditions.
The owners of Hornvarefabrikken, Sara Brunn Buch and her husband Peder Frølund Buch, want their guests in the store to put the phone away and stop looking at the clock. Instead, they should walk around the gallery and enjoy the overall experience of visiting Hornvarefabrikken. Here there is no "see - but not touch" - on the contrary, one must be allowed to explore the horn goods oneself. You have to turn and feel them between your hands and find the perfect comb, hair clip, jewelry or spoon.
It started with a spoon
Hornvarefabrikken in Bøvlingbjerg has existed since 1935 and in the beginning it was mainly spoons that were produced. They are still produced in many guises and are still popular. In 2007, the future looked bleak for Hornvarefabrikken. The then owners were approaching retirement age and no one was ready to take over. Almost by accident, Sara Brunn Buch found out that Hornvarefabrikken in both her and her husband's childhood town was in danger of closing and she ended up taking over the store on October 1, 2008. She came with an education from the Seminar for Arts & Crafts in Kerteminde - as well as a lot of drive.
Hornvarefabrikken's product range has now been expanded. Especially the jewelry is gaining ground. Peder Frølund Buch says that the near future for Hornvarefabrikken offers a facelift of the store so that the jewelery can be further highlighted.
The way of the horn
Hornvarefabrikken gets its horns primarily from Nigeria and no two horns are alike. Therefore, there is not only a big color difference from item to item but also a fascinating play of colors in each item. They are all unique.
From the horns lying in a room waiting to be used until it ends inside the store as a finished product, it has to go through many processes. It needs to be sawed out, then it needs to be shaped and heated, cut, sanded and polished and finally it gets checked. A horn spoon must go through approx. 18 processes before it is completed and is presented in the store.
Several of the jewelry in the sortiment are with curls and knots - all this can be done when the horn is heated in oil.
Since some of the large horns cannot be used, there is a larger amount of residual waste. But these remnants can also be purchased - they are popular as decoration materials.
