The Future is Handmade Seminar
Many of the hottest names in design gathered this week at Kalmar Art Museum. In conjunction with the exhibition The Future is Handmade, Designarkivet arranged a two day seminar. The theme was the new interest in the handmade which has been a most significant in recent years. The head of the Design Archives, Ragnhild Lekberg says :
– We see a clear change. Previously, the industrial approach has been dominating. Now, more and more designers try techniques and materials that can not be mass-produced. The exhibition that curator Petra Lilja created here at Kalmar Art Museum once and for all kills the myth of craft being only a nostalgic hobby.
With several international guests in the panel, it was not entirely surprising that the tickets were sold out the same day they were released. The seminar also discussed issues related to ethics and morality. What responsibility do designers have when it comes to where their designs are being produced and under what circumstances production takes place ?
Questions about education and research in the various areas were close debate, chaired by art and design critic Dennis Dahlqvist. The subsequent mingling and dinner gave participants from all corners of Europe to the opportunity to meet and network.
Parallell to the seminar a forum for key persons withing design researh in Sweden was led by Ragnhild Lekberg.
The two days in-depth conversation about the relationship between craft and design also gave concrete results. As part of the ongoing collaboration with the Architecture and design center, Designarkivet will now seek research funding to a number of new projects. (Translated text from Kalmar Konstmuseum & Designarkivet:)
See the final exhibition design here: The future is handmade