Levi Borgstrom

Borgstrom was born in Lycksele, Sweden in 1919. As a teenager, he began using his father's tools to carve wooden cutlery and crockery and was strongly influenced by Saami and Norrland settler culture. His career was largely focused upon spoon carving.[1]

In 1951, he moved to New Zealand and began incorporating New Zealand resources into his Scandinavian-influenced works. He used New Zealand and introduced timbers in his works, including kowhai, tanekaha, akeake, rewarewa, manuka, macrocarpa, cherry wood, privet, mangrove, and silky oak.[2]

Borgstrom worked by drawing a design on a piece of wood and roughly creating the shape using a Scandinavian bow saw. He would then use knives and chisels to further refine the carving, followed by work with files and rasps. The final stages of creating a spoon included sanding, waxing and oiling.[2]

His work is held in the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.[1][3]