The Love Story

A&C is a story about daring to be different, believing in yourself and making your own choices.
It’s about endless optimism, creativity and willpower. By telling our story we want to inspire
you to tell yours…

A&C was created in the late 70 ties, when two young creative people, she from Norway and he from Holland, back packed their way through Asia and met on a golden beach far away. They decided they wanted their travel to last forever, and started up as street sellers in Tokyo, where they offered their first collection of home made jewellery.

After living in Japan, Birgit & Franz found paradise on an Philippine Island and built their own bamboo house on a sandy beach. They worked and lived among the Philippine mountain tribes and started to export local handicraft to Europe. This experience gave the young couple a hard lesson in the ways of life - human relations, culture, politics, and corruption. After six years of travelling and living in Asia, they decided to move back to Europe.

Back in Norway in 1984 the couple continued to sell jewellery and the handicraft they had produced on the Philippines – quality products of real craftsmanship - hence the company was founded, and the name was "Arts & Crafts".

Because of Birgit and Franz travel experiences and special history together, A&C has always lived by the rules of Ethical Trade and our jewellery design will always be influenced by the colourful diversity the world has to offer.