Høyvikhuset

‘A home with proud craftwork traditions’

Ivar and Eli

Ivar Høyvik born 13 August 1881 came from Gulen in Sogn. He first studied under Lars Kinsarvik in Hardanger, and subsequently under Magnus Dagestad in Voss, where he took his craft certificate. Eli Græe born 15 November 1879 in Voss attended Bergen Kvindelige industriskole where she learned embroidery, including Hardanger embroidery and beadwork.

They met each other at the annual crafts exhibition in Vossevangen in 1905, and got engaged shortly after.

Dissolution of the union

This was a special time for Norway. The Norwegian language movement had been making efforts for several years to prepare Norway for leaving the union with Sweden. They did so by strengthening the Norwegian identity and accentuating things that were uniquely Norwegian, including ornamentation from Viking ships and stave churches. King Oscar II of Sweden was unwilling to let go of Norway, and it looked as if the two countries might be about to go to war. Ivar was sent to serve as a soldier on the border, but things luckily calmed down and the union was dissolved peacefully.

To Balestrand

Ivar and Eli decided to move to Balestrand in 1907, because of the many artist’s villas being built there that needed ornamentation and furniture in the dragon style, which was de rigueur at the time. They built this house in 1910. Ivar had a workshop in the cellar and Eli had looms on the right side of the ground floor. They had nine children over the course of the 14 years after 1907.

Feeding such a large flock on ‘the work of their hands’ was not easy. They grew potatoes, vegetables and fruit in the garden and everyone had to work. The older children had to look after the little ones, and everyone helped by going fishing or picking berries for sale to increase the family’s food supplies.

Sundays were kept sacred, and no work was performed in the workshops. Ivar usually went walking in the mountains, either to Balastølen or even up Keipen mountain.

Furniture production and weaving

Ivar made hundreds of pieces of furniture over the course of his long career, for private homes, for churches in Norway and in England and even for Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. Detailed drawings exist of most of the pieces he made. Ivar also worked as a woodwork teacher in the neighboring communities, and many a piece of furniture in homes dotted across the area come from these ‘winter schools’.

Eli’s income as a weaver was also essential in helping the family to make ends meet. Most of her work was sold to well-to-do families in Bergen and Oslo. Eli used plants to dye her yarn, an art she had learned from her mother.

During the latter part of their lives, they welcomed tourists who wanted to see them performing their crafts. Ivar died on 19 August 1961 after celebrating his 80th birthday and the double baptism of his great grandchildren. He was hit by a car beside the English Church. Eli died on 4 May 1963.