A matched pair of Søholm wall candle holders, model 3220, designed by Noomi Backhausen and Poul Brandborg for the Bornholm stoneware workshop in the early 1970s. Each sconce is a single stoneware piece shaped like a long-handled spoon, with a rounded upper panel that acts as a small backplate and a candle cup set into the lower end.
Backhausen and Brandborg were among the designers who defined Søholm's output in the 1960s and 1970s, and model 3220 was made in several hand-painted decors. On this pair, a four-petal motif in cobalt blue and sage green, outlined in brown, sits on a glossy white glaze with a faintly speckled surface. Because the decoration was painted freehand, the two flowers differ slightly in colour balance and line, which makes the pair feel drawn rather than printed.
A dark brown band follows the raised rim, and the cups carry a darker, earthy glaze. The unglazed reverse shows the sandy Bornholm clay, a hanging hole, the impressed Søholm Bornholm Denmark Stentøj stamp, the shape number 3220 and a decorator's mark.
Hung side by side or on either side of a mirror, the two holders give a wall a warm point of light, and finding the same model as a pair with matching decor is less common than finding a single piece.
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