3.5.2026 | Culture

Eye Candy for Craft Lovers

Text Timo Raussi
Photos Marianne Seiman

Former top swimmer and model, now working as a swimming coach, Estonian Marianne Seiman has practised the unique craft of freeform crocheting for over 20 years. In this form, where pre-designed patterns, yarn types or the practicality of the items do not dictate anything, but instead colours, shapes and textures are intuitively combined within the bounds of imagination and manual skill, the result can be classified as art.

Art—and a feast for the eyes for all craft enthusiasts—is certainly what is created by Seiman that is on display at the Kuusalu Local History Museum, located in connection with Kolga Manor. Situated about 60 kilometres, or a 45-minute drive by car, east of Tallinn, the museum presents the manor and the everyday life and hobbies of the local rural population at different times. On display are, among other things, items from Soviet Estonia of the 1960s and 70s, but visitors can also immerse themselves in the splendour of a Baltic-German manor in the museum’s “hall of wonders”, the Wunderkammer. It is precisely there that the exhibition of Marianne Seiman’s handiwork is displayed.

Upon entering the hall, one’s jaw is likely to drop, as in the middle of the room there is a festive dining table set for ten people, where the food placed on the plates and serving dishes, the candles standing and “burning” in candlesticks, and the floral crown arrangement hanging above the table have all been crocheted from cotton yarn with a 1.5 mm crochet hook in a strikingly lifelike manner. In addition, there are pieces of costume jewellery, floral arrangements, and other fantasy creations on display, all made using freeform crocheting over the past five years.

In mid-June, Seiman intends to slightly update the selection of dishes on the table, as recently she has focused on pastry, cake, and dessert-themed freeform crocheting. Images of her latest works can be admired on Seiman’s international Instagram account @heegeldab, which has more than 162,000 followers worldwide. Although detailed instructions for the works on display in Kolga are not available, Seiman has organised short freeform crocheting courses on request and has written instructional texts in English for craft enthusiasts on the etsy.com website.

An Estonian-language interview with Seiman and her Wunderkammer exhibition can be read, for example, using a browser’s translation function here.

The museum is open until 14 May from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 16:00, and after that according to the summer schedule, from Wednesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:00. In addition, during the international Museum Night on 16 May, the museum will be open from 18:00 to 23:00, when at 18:00 the museum director Ulvi Meier will give a guided tour of the Wunderkammer. Tours of the manor’s main building interiors also take place at 19:00 and 21:00.

Kolga Manor, and especially its main building, is one of the largest in Estonia. The building is privately owned and therefore not open to the public without a separate agreement or a private guided tour booked through the museum. Although the technical condition of the building has deteriorated over the years into a rather bleak state, the atmosphere surrounding it has been described by Finnish travel influencer Henna Mikkilä in her blog as “like a day trip to Downtown Abbey”.