Levi Borgstrom


Levi Petrus Borgstrom was a Swedish-New Zealand carver.

Early life

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 Lapp and Norrland settler culture. His career was largely focused upon spoon carving.

Career

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.
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.

Collections

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