| Levi Borgstrom | |
| Birth Name: | Levi Petrus Borgstrom |
| Birth Date: | 7 November 1919 |
| Birth Place: | Lycksele, Sweden |
| Death Place: | Titirangi, New Zealand |
| Nationality: | Swedish, New Zealander |
| Known For: | Woodturning, carving |
Levi Petrus Borgstrom (7 November 1919 – 25 July 2001) was a Swedish-New Zealand carver.
Borgstrom was born in Lycksele, Sweden in 1919. As a teenager, he began using his father's tools to carve wooden cutlery and crockery and was strongly influenced by Saami and Norrland settler culture. His career was largely focused upon spoon carving.[1]
In 1951, he moved to New Zealand and began incorporating New Zealand resources into his Scandinavian-influenced works. He used New Zealand and introduced timbers in his works, including kōwhai, tānekaha, akeake, rewarewa, mānuka, macrocarpa, cherry wood, privet, mangrove, and silky oak.[2]
Borgstrom worked by drawing a design on a piece of wood and roughly creating the shape using a Scandinavian bow saw. He would then use knives and chisels to further refine the carving, followed by work with files and rasps. The final stages of creating a spoon included sanding, waxing and oiling.[2]
His work is held in the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.[1] [3]