Fans of Nordic design who find themselves in Milan this week shouldn't miss the new edition of Mindcraft, the showcase organised by Danish Crafts, an institution of the Danish Ministry of Culture aiming at promoting local art and crafts internationally.
Curated by Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard, Mindcraft13 will bring to Milan's Fuori Salone (one of the best events for experimental projects during Milan Design Week) pieces created by 15 skillful craftspeople and designers.Mindcraft13 promises to be particularly intriguing since it presents a series of projects tackling a wide range of themes and moving from different inspirations.
Duplicity, contradictions and the exploration of dichotomic forces prevail in some cases: Mathias Bengtsson explores for example through his "Growth Chair" technology and traditonal methods, letting a "digital seed" with embedded furniture parameters grow in a virtual world inside a purpose-designed computer program; Katrine Borup creates jewellery conceived as body art, suspended between the serious and the playful, the attractive and the repuslive, and made with unusual materials (the pieces included in the showcase go from thigh bone guards and calcium tablet containers inspired by osteoporosis to a very alterative cigarette case representing a smoker’s lungs).
Nina Bruun mixes in her "Kilim" daybed Danish classics with rugs from the Middle Eastern tradition while Rasmus Bækkel Fex's "Relatives" chairs are instead the result of a clash between art and design with a Dadaist twist that also pervades Mette Saabye's one-off rings made to resemble tools such as funnels or bowls but having no function at all.While Lisbet Friis and Uffe Black's floor and table with an evocative silk-screen printed pattern were the result of precise researches and studies, other designers employ a very peculiar modus operandi that leads them to surprising conclusions.
Ceramist Christina Schou Christensen uses rich and highly viscous glazes to make pieces characterised by a myriad of unpredictable possibilities; Christian Flindt combines different materials like traditional ash wood and industrial concrete obtaining unexpected results; Astrid Krogh includes in her work an element of change or subtle surprise as her optical fibre sculpture of cosmic dimensions proves.
A modern aesthetic is injected in the "Decadent Dogu" abstract ceramic figures by Michael Geertsen, in "Marbelous Wood" by textile designer Pernille Snedker Hansen, a series of wood adorned with a marbling pattern in vibrantly vivid colours, and in Grethe Sørensen's "Rush Hour / Shanghai 5" tapestry, made on a digital Jacquard loom and based on images of the city lights in Shanghai taken from a video recording through a process that replaces pixels with threads (woven at the TextielMuseum, Tilburg).
"Little Ship" by Eske Rex a cart, a crib and a playpen made for a newborn and "The Last Piece of Furniture" by Søren Ulrik Petersen, a bookcase that can be turned into a coffin with shelves converting into a lid and legs that can be fitted as handles, play instead with the theme of transformation.
Each piece to be showcased during Mindcraft13 is unique for different reasons, but all of them break down established boundaries about design, craft and technology, at times combining unconventionally modern tools with traditional techniques. Which are the most innovative aspects of Mindcraft13 compared to last year's event?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: Mindcraft12 included a section that showed the process behind the works. This part was very well received by the visitors. This year we want to go even further and show key moments in the design process, so each work will be accompanied by a short film.
The process of making is currently a very trendy topic since many of us are rediscovering the possibilities of making things by hand, in which way will this theme be tackled in the "Danish Crafts" showcase?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: The process of making is indeed an interesting topic at the moment, but our focus in the exhibition has been on the professional approach to the design process, so "Thinking Throug Making". All the participants in the exhibition are very exquisite makers and are some of the best craftspeople and designers from Denmark. The Danish makers represented in Mindcraft13 have all been selected for their exceptional professional skills within their respective fields and for their innovative approach to the design and making process.
One of the most exciting things about Danish Crafts is that it includes a wide variety of designers and artists working in different media, from jewellery to ceramics, textile and furniture. In your opinion, what makes the Danish scene so vibrantly diverse?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: Denmark is a small country, and we believe that's one reason why many businesses in Denmark express a diversity. We have for centuries travelled out in the world to experience other ways to do things.
Which artists included fascinated you the most from a visual point of view? And which ones for their use of materials, or for their construction techniques?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: All of them have a strong visual appeal and at the same time their works all represent exquisite craftsmanship. Besides, they all have a very interesting story behind their works.Take for instance Mathias Bengtsson who has created a bronze chair by using a purpose designed computer program invented for simulating the growth process of plants. Some of the makers are experimenting with construction teqniques as Eske Rex has done by transforming a piece of wood, or Grethe Sørensen who combines traditional textile skills with the new technological possibilities by weaving her work on a digital loom. Katrine Borup makes us look at diseases instead from a different point of view; Mette Saabye challenges the traditions and always has a brilliant story behind her things; Michael Geertsen has an overview of history that he implants in his designs in a very complex way to prompt us to remember.Many people think that the key to the future of design is a combination of craftsmanship and innovative techniques and technologies - would you agree with this statement?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: Yes - as we can see in many of the works from the Danish craftspeople and designers. They are experimenting with and embracing new technologies and new materials. The disciplines of craft and design are not so separate but complement each other and this seems to be an innovative way forward.
What do you expect from this year's Milan's Fuori Salone?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: We expect that, after seeing the videos we made together with filmmaker Ole Konstantyner, the concepts and methods behind the things the exhibitors did, visitors will remember Danish craftsmanship and design as something connected with and focused on relevance, pragmatism, sustainability and quality.Can you tell us more about the inspirations behind the furniture you designed for the renovation of the Trusteeship Council Chamber in the UN building in New York?
Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard: One of the major challenges was that we had to make the furniture fit into a specific place. Being in the 'footsteps' of Finn Juhl, made us constantly think of what he would have done. That was inspiring in a way, but also prompted us to engage in a constant, imagined and respectful dialogue with one of the great masters from the past. Rather than moving from an inspiration we usually start from a pragmatic process, collecting all possible influences on a scheme, before giving shape to something. That allows us to get to a result that is as close to something useful for as many people as possible.
Mindcraft13, 9th-14th April 2013, Via Ventura 6, Milan, Italy
Image Credits:
1. Growth Chair by Mathias Bengtsson
2. The air we beathe, The BODYPARTy series by Katrine Borup
3. Kilim by Nina Bruun
4. Relatives by Rasmus Bækkel Fex
5. Condenser by Mette Saabye
6. Barber shop table on a white patterned floor by Friis & Black
7. Shaping Fluid by Christina Schou Christensen
8. Concrete Gable Table by Christian Flindt
9. Mare Tranquillitatis by Astrid Krogh
10. Marbelous Wood - Refraction by Pernille Snedker Hansen
12. Rush Hour/Shanghai 5 by Grethe Sørensen
13. Decadent Dogu by Michael Geertsen
14. Little Ship by Eske Rex
15. The Last Piece of Furniture by Søren Ulrik Petersen
All images courtesy of Danish Crafts
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments