Table work refers to a wide range of hairwork techniques that involve braiding and weaving hair into a jewelry. The name comes from the apparatus at the center of the technique: the braiding table, a specialized ring-shaped work surface. Strands of hair are passed through a hole at the center of the table and wound onto small bobbins used as counterweights to keep the hair taught. The hair can then be woven into different designs in a process not dissimilar to lace-making. This technique allows for a large variety of designs, ranging from simple braided chains to complex “beads” made entirely from intricately woven hair. Unlike other hairwok techniques, table work jewelry puts the hair into direct contact with the wearer, making it particularly intimate.
While this type of hairwork was not unknown in Britain and other parts of Northern and Central Europe, it is often associated with the Swedish village of Våmhus. Beginning around the 1830s, young women from this village, who had developed their skills as hairworkers to bring more income to their struggling families, began traveling across Northern and Central Europe to offer their services on-site at clients’ homes. This proved incredibly popular as it eliminated the fear of a loved one’s hair being mishandled when sent into a professional hairwork shop, and remained a lucrative industry for Våmhus through the rest of the 19th-century.
Campbell, Mark. The Self-Instructor in the Art of Hair Work. New York: M. Campbell, 1867.
Irby, Diane. “The Traveling Hairworkers of Våmhus: Traditional Scandinavian Hair Jewelry,” Victorian Hairwork by Diane Irby (victorianhairwork.art), last modified March 27, 2026, https://www.victorianhairwork.art/journal-research/hairwork-jewelry-a-traditional-scandinavian-folk-art-by-diane-irby.
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