Karen Blixen by Rosendahl: Paper Cones and Plated Flowers

Rosendahl's Karen Blixen series takes its name from one of Denmark's best known writers and turns the small decorations of a Danish household into plated metal. This piece looks at where those shapes come from, the paper cone and the flower above all, and how the series translates folded paper and garden forms into objects meant to be kept for years.

A series named after a Danish writer

The starting point is simple. The series is built around decorations drawn from a Danish writer's household traditions, the kind of handmade, seasonal pieces that many Danish homes bring out at the same point every year and put away again afterwards. Rosendahl has kept the name Karen Blixen on every piece, and the catalogue currently holds seventeen Karen Blixen products, from flowers and cones to a star-shaped candle cuff.

What unites them is a way of working rather than a single motif. Each design takes a shape that would traditionally be cut, folded or picked by hand and gives it a permanent metal surface. The finishes are kept to two: silver plated and gold plated. Several designs come in both, so you can stay with one metal across a whole arrangement or mix the two deliberately.

The result sits somewhere between jewellery and household decoration. The pieces are small, measured in single or low double figures of height, and they are meant to be looked at up close: on a sideboard, in a window, on a set table or among other objects you already own.

The paper cone: from folded paper to plated metal

Few shapes are as rooted in Danish seasonal custom as the paper cone. In Danish it is a kræmmerhus, a small cornet of paper or card, often decorated, that is hung up and filled with sweets, nuts or small treats. Making them at the kitchen table is a familiar December activity in Denmark, alongside cutting and weaving paper hearts. The cone has a practical logic: it is quick to fold, it holds its contents without a lid, and its point lets it hang neatly from a ribbon.

The Karen Blixen Paper cone H8.5 keeps that outline and changes the material. Where a paper cone is soft and lasts a season, the plated version holds a crisp edge and can come out year after year. It is offered in silver plated and gold plated, and at H8.5 it stays close to the scale of the handmade cones it refers to. A single one reads as a small, quiet accent. Several hung or laid together start to look like a collection.

The larger Karen Blixen Candy Cornet H15,6 Silver Plated develops the same idea at H15,6. As the name suggests, it is the cornet as a container, the version of the shape most directly linked to the old habit of filling a cone with sweets. It comes in silver plated only, which suits its role as the anchor piece in a grouping: taller than the other designs here, and the one that most clearly carries the cone tradition into an object you can actually use.

Flowers in metal: layered petals and the ball flower

The second strand of the series is floral. Flowers have long been part of how Danish homes mark the seasons, whether as cut stems on the table, pressed blooms in a book or paper flowers made for a celebration. The Karen Blixen flowers take this in two directions.

The Karen Blixen Flower in layers H11.5 is built up from stacked tiers of petals, so the form changes as you walk past it and the light catches each layer in turn. Plated metal suits this well: the edges of the petals pick up highlights, while the gaps between the layers fall into shadow. At H11.5 it is the largest of the flowers covered here, and it comes in both silver plated and gold plated.

The Karen Blixen Ball Flower H6.5 is more compact and more sculptural. Instead of opening outwards in layers, the petals gather into a rounded form, closer to a bud or a small posy than a flat bloom. At H6.5 it is the smallest piece in this selection, which makes it useful for filling gaps between taller pieces or for repeating in a row. Like the layered flower, it is offered in silver plated and gold plated.

Taken together, the two flowers show the series' method clearly. Neither tries to imitate a real plant in detail. Both reduce a familiar shape to a clean, repeatable outline that works in metal, which is also how the cones are treated.

Silver, gold and the scale of small things

Because the pieces are small, the choice of finish carries most of the visual weight. Silver plated pieces read cooler and sit comfortably with glass, white porcelain, steel and pale wood. Gold plated pieces are warmer and pair well with brass candleholders, amber glass, darker woods and candlelight. The series also includes a Candle cuff Star H3 in gold plated, a small piece that carries the same vocabulary over to the candle itself.

Height is the other thing to plan around. The designs here run from H6.5 for the Ball Flower to H15,6 for the Candy Cornet, with the Paper cone at H8.5 and the Flower in layers at H11.5 in between. That spread makes it easy to build a group with a clear high point and a rhythm of smaller pieces around it. A practical approach is to choose one metal, start with the tallest piece, then add two or three smaller ones at different heights so the eye moves across the group rather than resting on one object.

Repetition works well too. Three identical paper cones in a line have a calm, almost architectural quality that a mixed group does not, and they make the folded outline easier to read.

Living with the Karen Blixen series

The appeal of these pieces lies in the way they keep a handmade tradition visible without asking you to remake it every year. A paper cone from the kitchen table is lovely for a few weeks and then gone. A plated one can be brought out with the same decorations each season, so it gradually becomes part of the household's own routine, in the way the original paper versions were meant to be.

They are also easy to use outside a single season. A gold plated flower on a bookshelf or a silver cornet on a dressing table holding small things looks considered at any time of year. Store them wrapped in soft cloth between uses so the plated surfaces stay bright, and handle them by the base rather than the petals or the tip of the cone.

If you are starting from scratch, the Paper cone and the Flower in layers make a natural pair: one represents the folded paper strand of the series, the other the floral strand, and both come in either metal. Add the Ball Flower for scale and the Candy Cornet when you want a taller centrepiece. To see how these sit alongside vases, candleholders and other objects, browse the full Home Decor & Objects collection.