ArtistSwedish Sami
Esse Poggats
1 active items
Esaias 'Esse' Poggats was born in 1937 in Gällivare, in the reindeer-herding landscape of northern Swedish Sápmi, and died in 2006. He came from the Poggats family, a Gällivare-area lineage with deep roots in Sami duodji: the elder Esaias Pavasson Poggats (active earlier in the 20th century) and Andreas Poggats are also represented in auction records, giving the name a multigenerational dimension in Sami craft history.
Poggats worked across the full range of hard-material duodji. His signature forms include helhornskniv (all-horn knives), halvhornskniv (half-horn knives), kåsa (drinking cups), lockaskar (lidded boxes in birch), mjölkstäva (milk staves), tändsticksfodral (matchstick cases), and jewellery in silver and reindeer horn. His pieces are characterised by finely engraved geometric and stylised decoration, and are monogram-signed 'EP'. He also developed Sami silversmithing as a refined branch of duodji practice, bringing goldsmithing-level attention to ornament and pendant work.
Poggats is noted, alongside Martin Kuorak, as one of the craftsmen who shaped the direction of 20th-century Sami duodji - maintaining inherited techniques and materials while pushing their artistic refinement. He has been described as founding a school in modern Sami handicraft, and his approach to design and execution influenced subsequent generations of Sami craftspeople. He participated in numerous exhibitions during his lifetime.
At auction, Poggats' work appears regularly in Swedish salesrooms, handled primarily by Norrlands Auktionsverk (10 lots) and also by Stadsauktion Sundsvall and Bukowskis. The 14 items recorded in Auctionist's database span knives, boxes, cups, a necklace, and a pendant, with prices ranging from under 200 SEK for smaller pieces to 25,000 SEK for his top result - a signed and dated helhornskniv from 1991. The presence of his work at Bukowskis alongside regional northern Swedish auction houses reflects the broad collector base his craft commands.