MIA SAHLBERG
Silversmith & artist, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Bonjour Mia, hope you’re doing great! What are you up to today?
Coucou! It’s another sunny day here in the south of France and I’m finishing a big jewelry order and when it’s done I’ll go to pick up my son from school and we’ll have a goûté (fika) with his friends.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you live and your brand:
Alright – my name is Mia Sahlberg, I’m (unbelievably enough) 37 though I still feel like 25 and I live in the south of France, in a little village close to Montpellier.
I work as a silversmith and created my own brand M.SAHLBERG jewelry six years ago. I make organic silver jewelry mixed with pearls and gem stones and I adore working with my hands everyday! I literally hate to work behind the computer and I even suck at answering emails, I always think ”I’ll do it tomorrow instead” and then I forget about it..
I moved here from Stockholm two years ago and I’ve never regretted it! To live in the sun, in a big old house with my own atelier and a four minute walk from our best friends is amazing and I feel so lucky to be able to live like this!
When did you start your own brand, and what made you do it?
I started to work with silver in 2014 when I lived in Paris. I’ve always been a creative person and I created my own clothing brand while I was still in fashion school and then I worked a bit as a stylist. In a photo shoot I wanted to cover the models fingers with organic textured rings but couldn’t find what I had in mind and some days after the shoot I started to watch YouTube tutorials on how to start silversmithing and I was hooked from day one and created my first collection in our living room in Paris☺
You have a great sense of style, always dressing in lots of colors and prints. What inspires you, both in your personal style of dressing, but also in your work?
Thank you and right back at ya! I like to dress in clothes that make my happy. I love colors and to mix prints and fancy Danish clothes with 1€ flea market finds. I guess you could say that I have a intuitive joyful and infantile style in many ways and I always have a playful approach when I create whether it’s how I dress, decorate my home, paint or make ceramics or jewelry. I’m inspired by the quirky and funny and persons who seem to be the same. Some of my style masters are Henri Matisse, Iris Apfel and Alexander Ekman.
You live in a beautiful house in Southern France – What is the best thing about living there?
The sun and the light! I fell in love with the south of France over ten years ago and it’s a forever long love story! I think it’s so beautiful here and I love everything from the magical filtered light through the plane trees to the worn pastel-colored houses with their classic wooden window-shutters. And oh our foodmarkets- almost everything we eat and drink is produced locally and the fruits and veggies taste so much more here then in Sweden.
Is there anything you miss with living in Sweden?
Hmm not much really, beside being close to friends and family of course, the only things I can think of now are Delicato’s dammsugare and saltlakrits (Swedish pastry and sweets) haha.
If you could choose one favorite piece from the Henry Rude 2021 collection, what would it be and why?
It must be the total look (ok it’s not one piece) with a brown/yellow printed hat, jacket and wide trousers! Why? Because I love all over prints and the cut looks nice to.
What song are you currently playing on repeat:
More of Mia Sahlberg:
Web: https://msahlbergjewelry.com
Business Instagram: @msahlbergjewelry
Private Instagram: @miasahlberg