Rosa Potapova stands at the forefront of a contemporary resurgence in traditional Sámi handcrafts, specifically the intricate and culturally resonant practice of pewter-bead embroidery. As a Swedish Sámi artisan descended from generations of duodji makers—those who create traditional Sámi handicrafts—Potapova has elevated this centuries-old form into a refined artistic discipline, blending historical fidelity with a deeply personal aesthetic vocabulary. Her work is rooted in the traditions of her Northern Scandinavian homeland, yet it resonates far beyond it, speaking to issues of cultural preservation, material identity, and the tactile language of memory.
Pewter-bead embroidery, known in Sámi as tenntrådsbroderi, is traditionally created by sewing spun pewter thread—an alloy typically composed of tin with a small percentage of silver—into elaborate patterns on reindeer leather or wool felt. Small glass seed beads or silver beads are often added to enhance the shimmer and structure of the design, especially in women’s clothing, ceremonial belts, gauntlets, and accessories like gákti trims and bag ornamentation. These embellishments are not only decorative; they are deeply symbolic, often indicating family lineage, regional identity, or spiritual protection. The pewter thread, when braided or stitched in symmetrical curves, forms motifs that recall elements of the natural world: waves, stars, snowflakes, or the movement of northern lights across the tundra sky.
Rosa Potapova’s embroidery builds upon these foundations, but she pushes the tradition forward with an extraordinary sense of innovation and devotion. Her materials are carefully sourced, often from traditional Sámi suppliers in Norrbotten and Finnmark, ensuring the integrity of the pewter alloy and the ethical origin of the reindeer leather. However, Potapova is also known for experimenting with color and form in ways that subtly evolve the practice. While classical Sámi embroidery tends toward monochromatic or tonal schemes—silver on black, pewter on navy—Potapova introduces bold contrasts, working with richly dyed wools and hand-tanned hides in crimson, ochre, or glacier blue, against which the pewter and beadwork gleam with heightened intensity.
The incorporation of beads into her work is handled with extreme precision. Instead of scattering beads loosely across the surface, she integrates them into the logic of the pewter thread, allowing each bead to serve as a node in a visual rhythm. Her designs often feature rosettes, radiating spirals, or mirrored motifs that combine the geometric clarity of Nordic design with the organic complexity of lichen or frost patterns. She uses Japanese glass seed beads for their consistency and color variety, and frequently intersperses them with antique Sámi beads made from trade glass or silver, collected from elders or passed down through her family. These ancestral beads are never used frivolously. Each one is placed with intention, creating a visual conversation between past and present.
Potapova’s embroidery is also distinguished by its layering of technique. She is a master of couching—a method by which thicker pewter thread is tacked down with finer thread in decorative patterns—and she combines this with split stitching, bead fringe edging, and delicate latticework that extends beyond traditional motifs. Some of her pieces, such as the wrist cuffs known as boagánat, are miniature masterpieces, their surfaces dense with embroidery that shifts in the light and draws the eye into complex interlaced forms. Others, like her modern interpretations of traditional Sámi handbags (nuvttahat), feature beadwork that follows the contours of the bag in looping, almost musical rhythms, echoing the joik—Sámi song traditions—in visual form.
One of the most compelling aspects of Potapova’s work is the emotional and cultural narrative embedded within it. For her, every stitch is an act of continuity. Raised during a time when Sámi identity in Sweden was politically marginalized and often suppressed, she experienced firsthand the disconnection many young Sámi felt from their cultural practices. Her commitment to pewter-bead embroidery is not merely aesthetic but a form of resistance and revival. She teaches workshops across Sápmi, sharing her techniques with younger generations, particularly encouraging Sámi youth to reconnect with duodji as both a skill and a source of pride. In her teaching, she emphasizes not only the technical demands of the craft but its spiritual and communal dimensions: how patterns carry stories, how materials hold memory, and how hands remember what has nearly been forgotten.
Potapova’s works have been featured in museums and Sámi cultural centers across Scandinavia, from Ájtte in Jokkmokk to RiddoDuottarMuseat in Norway. Her pieces are often displayed alongside archaeological artifacts and contemporary Sámi fashion, offering a vital bridge between heritage and innovation. In recent exhibitions, her embroidered belts and cuffs have been juxtaposed with archival photographs of early 20th-century Sámi women, highlighting the continuity of visual language across generations. Yet even as her work pays homage to the past, it is unmistakably of the present. Her lines are clean, her symmetry deliberate, her palettes bold—reflecting a modern Sámi identity that is unapologetic, self-defined, and artistically sovereign.
In addition to traditional garments and accessories, Potapova has expanded her practice to include fine art panels, where she mounts her bead and pewter embroidery on linen or birch bark, turning wearable motifs into contemplative objects. These panels often explore themes of migration, seasonal cycles, or reindeer migration routes, translating the movement of life across the tundra into gleaming, textural maps. In one series titled “Násti” (Star), she used pewter thread and tiny beads to create abstracted constellations that recall both celestial navigation and the bead maps sewn into historical Sámi clothing for spiritual guidance. These pieces, while less functional than her wearable work, are no less grounded in tradition—they simply elevate the symbolic language of pewter-bead embroidery into a new context.
Rosa Potapova’s artistry exemplifies the resilience and adaptability of Sámi culture. Through her hands, pewter and beads become more than materials—they become voices in a larger conversation about identity, land, memory, and expression. Her embroidery does not merely preserve a tradition; it expands and reanimates it, ensuring that Sámi duodji continues to evolve in form, technique, and meaning. With each luminous thread and precisely placed bead, she affirms the power of craft not only to adorn the body, but to inscribe culture onto the fabric of time itself.