One of a pair, this wooden angel figurine was originally used as a candleholder. When Lisa B. was a child, her mother would allow her to play with the angels on rare occasions – ‘that was always something very special’, she remembers.

In the 1940s, the Nazi charity organisation Winterhilfswerk, which raised money to help people through harsh winters, sold this type of wooden fretwork as Christmas ornaments. In the 1950s, it became very popular as nursery decoration and Lisa’s grandmother bought her pair in Göttingen in the early 1960s. When she was growing up, Lisa’s family used the angels as decoration during Advent. Then, the angels were placed on the table during meals and after Christmas they disappeared into the decoration box for the rest of the year.

Lisa’s mother gave her this angel as a reminder of home when she went abroad to Edinburgh for a year. The angel moved with her from Cologne, to Liverpool, to Berlin and eventually to London, where Lisa has been living since 2012. A good job offer was the main reason for leaving Germany and now she works at UKHE International Unit for Universities UK in London. Nonetheless, Lisa emphasises that she has always had an affinity for the UK as a country and culture.

Object Information

• Year of Purchase: Early 1960s
• Place of Purchase: Göttingen
• Producer: RAVI Kunst Hamburg
• Place of Production: Hamburg
• Material: Wood
• Size: 5 x 15 cm
• Colour: Light blue, white, brown