Brightplus supports Kalevala Koru in launching new ‘Nolla’ jewelry series

Kalevala Koru continues launching sustainable design innovations with its all-new ‘Nolla’ jewelry series, which is made with biomaterial provided by Brightplus. The companies have embarked on this journey of collaboration with the mindset of uniting Finnish iconic design and Finnish material science know-how.

The inspiration, colors, and manufacturing materials for Kalevala Koru’s new jewelry series come directly from nature. The Nolla jewelry series utilizes an innovative biomaterial developed by the Finnish company BrightPlus, the biomaterial is produced from plant-based sources such as hemp, sugarcane, and legumes. The silver in the jewelry is 100% recycled.

“We are constantly engaged in product development and always seek new sustainable solutions, materials, and methods. We continue to test the potential of yet-to-be-used biobased materials from different sources,” says Aino Ahlnäs, the Creative Director of Kalevala Koru.

The new biomaterial used in the jewelry has a plastic-like texture, all while being fully renewable and 100% developed in Finland. This means that no harmful, long-lasting microplastics are left in the environment at the end of its lifecycle. The Finnish name of the jewelry series “Nolla” means “Zero” in English.

“Brightplus is specialized in development and production of functional biomaterials. With our plant-based materials our experts enable environmental solutions to a variety of customer needs ranging from large side-stream utilization projects to creating minuscule fashionable material nuances, says Milja Hannu-Kuure, the managing director of Brightplus. “Our partnership with Nolla Collection and Brightplus is now making it possible to complement the iconic Kalevala design with cutting-edge material science”.

Like all of Kalevala Koru’s products, the Nolla jewelry series is handmade at Kalevala Koru’s factory in Helsinki, Finland. Goldsmith and designer, Taru Harmaala Chaloff, who has designed the Nolla, has already designed several collections for Kalevala Koru. Recycled materials are also used in other Kalevala Koru products.

“We have 3D printed and hand-made the Nolla components from our biomaterials, which are sourced directly from Finnish nature, for example the black color comes from soot and the blue color from woad”, explains Mika Leppäaho, biochemicals engineering manager in Brightplus.

The Nolla jewelry series will be available from Kalevalashop.com, Kalevala.fi and Kalevala stores in Helsinki.