Kajsa Willner, curator:
“What’s your DNA is a contemporary portrait of the growing local design scene in southern Sweden. The exhibition presents the height and breadth that the region possesses in the design field’s various disciplines, such as fashion, furniture design, conceptual design, industrial design, crafts, glass art etc.
Evaluating the designers’ varied forms of expression and profiles in terms of their genre, taste, material usage and approach creates a dynamic in the exhibition, in which each work is showcased individually whilst also contributing to a clearly multifaceted whole.
The selection comprises some of today’s leading designers in southern Sweden. Their common denominators, in addition to great talent, are the strength to forge their own path and a stubborn conviction that everything is possible. Together they form a greater shared identity for the region – the southern Swedish design DNA of Skåne”.
The biggest design event in Northern Europe
The participation at Dutch Design Week was Southern Sweden Creatives third activity in the design area of this year. Other initiatives carried out in 2017 are Milan Design Week in April and London Design Fair in September.
Dutch Design Week (DDW) is the biggest design event in Northern Europe, presenting work and ideas of more than 2500 designers to more than 295,000 visitors from around the world. DDW is different from other design events, because it concentrates on the designs of the future. Although during the event every imaginable discipline and aspect of design is on offer, the emphasis is on experiment, innovation and cross-overs.
Southern Sweden Creatives is a project supporting southern Swedish companies within the cultural and creative industries to grow their businesses through international exposure. Southern Sweden Creatives is currently the largest export related project within cultural and creative industries in Sweden, where Form/Design Center is one of nine partner organizations. The project is co-financed by the European Union Regional Development Fund and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, and runs between 2016- 2018.
Southern Sweden Creatives: What’s Your DNA? from Zetteler Films.
Follow the exhibitors and their work on instagram: @whatsyourdna
PARTICIPATING DESIGN STUDIOS
Andréason & Leibel
Andréason & Leibel studio is situated in an old printing house in the industrial sugar town Arlöv just outside Malmö, Sweden. Projects varies from design assignments in furniture- and lighting industry to self-produced limited series and unique studio pieces. In latest projects A&L experiments on themes connected to existential issues inspired by old time art masters. andreasonleibel.com
Glen Baghurst
Glen Baghurst is both a designer and co-producer of products and furniture. His work explores luxury ideas with a simple Scandinavian style. He is based in Malmo, Sweden and Sydney, Australia. The majority of his work is created through collaborations with craftspeople. For this exhibition Baghurst has collaborated with ME&E Ohlssons Klockgjuteri who have been making bells for churches over the last 300 years. glenbaghurst.com
Hanna Hansdotter
Hanna Hansdotter was born and raised in Lund. Sha trained to be a glassblower in the Kingdom of Crystal (Glasriket), Småland, followed by studies at Konstfack, Stockholm, where she graduated in Spring 2017. Her work borders between art and utility objects and often relates to history and traditions of glass blowing. The focus is on the process of making, where the process itself creates opportunity for exploration and questioning. instagram.com/hannahansdotter
Jenny Nordberg
Jenny Nordberg is an industrial designer MFA based in Malmö, who works exploratory and interdisciplinary to expand the contemporary notion of design, and of the designer. Whether an experimental, conceptual or commercial project, her practice is always driven by a search for alternatives and counter-strategies to irresponsible mass production. Stylistically, her work is characterized by brutalism and minimalism cleverly combined, often leaning on chance as an important element. jennynordberg.se
Kunsik Choi
Kunsik Choi studied Industrial Product Design (BA) at Politecnico di Milano University, Italy (2010). He was trained as a cabinet maker for 3 years under master cabinet makers in Sweden at Capellagården.
He considers the making process an important step in the design development. Observations of people’s daily life and personal experiences are brought into the design process and turned into designed objects. kunsik.com
Naemi Gustavsson
Naemi Gustavsson is a menswear designer working with ready-to-wear collections as well as unique pieces made in her studio in Malmö. Her work is driven by ideas around consumption and how to create a sustainable process both in manufacturing and in the user phase. Her work is influenced from sportswear and functional clothing and textile developments is central in her work that has the aim to prolong the relationship between product and user. naemigustavsson.com
Ola Giertz
Graduating in Furniture Design from Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies in 2010, Ola Giertz has since opened his own succesful studio. The studio’s designs are distinguished by a clear focus on clarity, simplicity and practicality. Ola places a firm emphasis on the timeless qualities of design, and his approach incorporates a harmonious blend of materiality, form, experimentation and playfulness. olagiertz.se
Sara Robertsson
With an MA in fashion from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design, Sara Robertsson fell in love with working with jewellery while employed as a designer at Weekday. Longing to work closer to the design process and with an expression of her own, she started her eponymous jewellery brand in 2015. Her feature is poetic and sharp, flowing shapes meet edge and clean cut lines in a signature organic minimalist style. sararobertsson.com
Stoft Studio
Stoft is a Swedish design studio based in Malmö founded by Jenny Ekdahl, Ola Nystedt and Joel Herslow. Drawn together by a common fascination for how things move, sound and feel, their work builds on their different but complementary approaches towards design – focusing on emotional, visual and physical interaction with objects. stoft-studio.com
Curator / Exhibition architect: Kajsa Willner
Graphic design: Daniel Christensen
