The Kasper Stromman Design Blog

DIY Planetaariset laaksot

Planetaariset laaksot (Planetary valleys) is a silver necklace designed by Björn Weckström in 1969 and produced by jewellery company Lapponia. It was famously worn by Carrie Fisher in the movie Star Wars Episode IV – a New Hope in 1977.

And sure, it’s a nice necklace and all, but did you know the going price for it is about €1,500? That’s a lot of money for something you could just as easily make yourself. So that’s what we did.

Now, as we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog sure as hell don’t have a lot of spare silver around we went for the next best thing: dark chocolate. It’s oh so delicious in addition to being full of antioxidants and flavenoids. 

It’s also high in vitamins and minerals, but we still resisted the urge to just wolf our chocolate down, and instead stripped the individual pieces down to the aluminium foil.

You can see where this is going, right?

The original Planetaariset laaksot is made out of the finest sterling silver. Our replica uses elastic string in addition to before mentioned blood pressure-lowering dark chocolate.

Also, the original Planetaariset laaksot does not lower blood pressure, hence making it an inferior product to ours. We here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog on the other hand are going to have the lowest blood pressure in town after we’re done with this jewellery business.

And there we have it folks: a perfect replica of Björn Weckström’s Planetaariset laaksot.

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NERD ALERT: ONLY CONTINUE READING IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR STAR WARS.

But wait, there’s more! While we are on the subject of the end scene of Episode IV: have you ever wondered why Chewbacca does not get a medal while Luke and Han gets one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixG8pfncOs

Racist much?

Despite, in the paperback adaption of the film, also published in 1977, Chewbacca in fact gets the medal he clearly is entitled to.

She placed something heavy and golden around Solo’s neck, then Chewbacca’s – having to strain to do so – and finally around Luke’s.

You hear that? Heavy and golden! That is secret space code for medal, and can only mean one thing: Star Wars Episode IV is a farce! There. We said it.

Hey Spielberg, next time you decide to change things around again in your little Original Trilogy, how about giving Chewie a medal? Is that too much to ask?

Is it?

Magazine of the month: Maailman hurjimmat hirviöt, 1985

The Kasper Stromman Design Blog magazine of the month is Maailman hurjimmat hirviöt (The world’s scariest monsters), which was published by Kustannusliike Sun Press in 1985. This is the first issue.

In fact, to call this ‘magazine’ is actually stretching the concept a bit, since this is basically two double sided posters in a cardboard folder. There is a pair of 3D glasses included though, which is nice.

So, who are these fiery monsters? C-3PO is one. And Chewbacca. In fact, even Ewoks count as monsters in this magazine/folder. As well as the child actors who play Ewoks. 

In fact, doesn’t it feel a lot like someone just had a bunch of pictures from Star Wars laying around and decided to print up some posters? Here’s an idea: instead of calling it “the world’s scariest monsters”, why not just call it “Star Wars posters”? Or was there some legal issue with that?

Having said that, the flip sides of the posters are kind of cool. Hmm? Judge me by three-dimensionality, do you?

Of course, to get the full effect of this effect, you had to wear your 3D glasses all the time around the house. But in 1985 this was the closest to virtual reality you could get, so it was well worth it.

in conclusion: We like this magazine, so we are going to let the dodgy name slip. Also, we guess Jabba the Hut does qualify as a monster, so in that sense the name of the magazine/folder would be technically correct.

We don’t believe there ever was a second issue of this mag, but as they say, it’s never too late. May we suggest doing one on Ghostbusters?

Sculpture of the month

Stormtrooper
Christer Nuutinen 1983
Painted wood