From Silversmith to Toymaker: Kay Bojesen's Wooden Figures

Kay Bojesen began at a silversmith's bench and ended up best known for wooden toys and figures. How did a craftsman trained in metal arrive at a painted beech bride, a chimney sweep and a postman, and why do these small figures still turn up at weddings, christenings and New Year tables? This piece follows that path and looks closely at the figures themselves.

A silversmith's training

Kay Bojesen (1886–1958) trained as a silversmith under Georg Jensen, in a workshop where hammered silver was valued for clear form and careful finish. Jensen's pieces were decorated, often richly, but they were also expected to sit well in the hand and do their job at the table. That double demand, useful and pleasing at once, stayed with Bojesen for the rest of his career.

When he set up on his own in Copenhagen, his silver moved towards plainer surfaces. Decoration gave way to proportion, and the quality of a piece came from the line of a handle or the weight of a bowl rather than from ornament laid on top. It was a modern position for its time, and it is the same habit of mind that later shaped his wood.

The guiding idea, repeated in almost everything written about him, was simple: useful things should also be cheerful. A spoon could be correct and still raise a smile. So could a toy.

From metal to wood: one workshop habit

The move from silver to wood was less of a break than it looks. A silversmith works by reducing: raising a sheet into a form, then removing every mark that does not help it. Bojesen brought that discipline to the lathe and the carving knife. His wooden figures are built from a small number of rounded volumes, a cylinder for the body, a sphere for the head, a turned hat or cap, with no surplus detail.

Rounded edges also had a practical reason. These were toys first, made to be picked up, dropped and handled by children, so nothing sharp or fragile was allowed to stick out. The Kay Bojesen figures produced today keep that logic. They are made in painted beech, a close-grained hardwood that turns cleanly and takes paint evenly, with the paint applied over a smooth, sanded surface.

Paint does the work that engraving once did. A few flat colours, a pair of dots for eyes and a small mouth are enough to give each figure its character. The result reads clearly from across a room, which is part of why the figures have lasted as objects for adults as well as children.

Figures in uniform and the Royal Guard

The best known of Bojesen's figures belong to the Royal Guard series from 1942, modelled on the soldiers who stand outside the royal palace in Copenhagen. Their tall bearskin hats and stiff posture translate almost perfectly into turned wood, and they set the pattern for a whole family of people in work clothes and uniforms. We look at the guards and their sentry box in more detail in Kay Bojesen Guardsman and Sentry Box: The Royal Guard in Wood.

Later figures made under the Kay Bojesen Denmark name extend that idea to other familiar Danish characters. The Postman H20 cm black/red is dressed in black with red details, the red long associated with Danish post. A marine at 20.5 cm (20.5 x 7 x 4 cm, 0.14 kg) and a shepherdess in light blue at 20 cm (20 x 9.5 x 10 cm, 0.24 kg) follow the same proportions. At 10 cm deep, the shepherdess has the broadest footprint of the group, and she is also the heaviest.

Figures made as gifts for an occasion

Many of these figures are bought less as toys than as presents tied to a particular moment. That is a natural extension of how Bojesen's work was received in Denmark, where his pieces have long been given at christenings, birthdays and weddings and then kept for decades.

The Bride and Groom

The Bride H17 cm white and the Groom H18 cm blue/black/white are made as a pair for weddings and anniversaries. The bride measures 17 x 7 x 5 cm and weighs 0.16 kg; the groom is slightly taller and broader at 18 x 8.5 x 5 cm and 0.18 kg. Side by side, he stands a centimetre taller, so the pair reads as a couple rather than two matching figures.

Both also come in a smaller H12 cm size. The 12 cm bride measures 12 x 5 x 3.5 cm and weighs 0.05 kg, and the 12 cm groom weighs 0.07 kg. The smaller pair fits on a cake, a place setting or a narrow window ledge, while the larger pair holds its own on a bookshelf or sideboard.

The Chimney sweep

In Denmark, as in much of northern Europe, the chimney sweep is a traditional sign of good luck, and sweeps often appear on New Year cards and decorations. The Chimney sweeper H20.5 black draws on that custom. At 20.5 x 7 x 4.5 cm and 0.15 kg, it is tall and slim, dressed in black with a top hat, and it makes a good present for a new home, a new job or the turn of the year.

The figures side by side

The figures share a material and a way of being made, but their sizes differ enough to matter when you group them. The measurements below are given as height x width x depth.

The working figures, the sweep, the postman and the marine, all sit at around 20 cm, so they line up neatly on one shelf. The bride and groom are a little shorter at 17 and 18 cm, which lets them stand in front of the others without being hidden.

Living with the figures

Painted beech is a living material, so grain and tone can vary slightly from one figure to the next, and no two are quite the same under the paint. Keep the figures out of direct sunlight, which fades colour over time, and away from radiators. A dry, soft cloth is all they need for dusting; they should not go in the dishwasher or be soaked.

For display, odd numbers and small groups work best. Three working figures on a windowsill, or a bride and groom on a mantelpiece with a single guard behind them, look composed rather than crowded. Because the figures are light, between 0.05 and 0.24 kg, they can sit safely on narrow ledges and open shelves.

The line that runs from Bojesen's silver to these figures is a consistent one: reduce the form, make it pleasant to hold, and let a little humour in. To see the guards, animals and birds that grew out of the same workshop, browse the full Kay Bojesen collection.