Hannah Robinson of LS:N Global covers Petra Lilja’s exhibition at Twelve – Established Nordic Designers at Stockholm Furniture Fair. Read the article titled Monumental makers: Poetic process takes center stage at SFF here.
Petra Lilja exhibits at three venues during Stockholm Design Week 2015. Twelve – Established Nordic Designers curated exhibition Feb 3-7, stand B12:11d, Stockholmsmässan, Älvsjö. Opening reception Tuesday Feb 3 at 4pm. Made and Merged “Mine Dine” design by Petra Lilja, Daniel Svahn and Josep Vila Capdevila Feb 3-7. Clarion Hotel Sign, Östra Järnvägsg. 35, Stockholm, 2nd floor. Opening reception Tuesday Feb 3 at 6-11pm RSVP to OSA@MADEANDMERGED.COM
Örnsbergsauktionen Galleri Bon, Högbergsgatan 18, Stockholm, Feb 2-7. Opening reception Feb1 at 1-5pm. Live auction Feb 6 at 7 pm Jakobsdalsv.15A, Örnsberg or online http://www.ornsbergsauktionen.se/
Play & Rewind design exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute, Skeppsbron 20, Stockholm. Opening reception Feb 5 at 6-9pm. Petra Lilja moderates a talk on Romanian design at 6.30 pm
Ung Svensk Form exhibition and award ceremony at Stockholm Furniture Fair, Greenhouse, Feb 3 at 3 pm. Petra Lilja is a member of the UNG Svensk Form jury. LINK TO PRESS IMAGES. WELCOME!
Petra Lilja’s mirror Portal Steps was selected as a favorite by Sight Unseen, covering the annual design auction Örnsbergsauktionen (an artist operated auction for studio produces design) taking place during Stockholm Design Week.
Cut from journalist Julie Cirelli’s text: The success of the Örnsberg Auction lies in its ability to connect experimental design with an audience that is both receptive to the objects themselves and comprehending of the value of supporting independent designers’ practices. The economy of the design industry today is skewed toward the outdated and exploitative principles of mass-production, which have scattered self-producing designers and makers to the economic fringes.
The Medusa Blanket was picked as one of the most important designs in January by Plaza Magazine online: Link to Plaza. The blanket is designed by Petra Lilja and Icelandic design studio Vik Prjonsdottir. Read more about the blanket design here.
German fashion magazine Maxi, December 2014 issue.
Petra Lilja takes part in a design exhibition at Business of Design Week (BODW) in Hong Kong! BODW is a flagship event organised by Hong Kong Design Centre since 2002. Sweden is this year’s partner country and among Svensk Form, brands like Scania etc. the Region of Skåne is participating with one of the most interesting exhibitions.
The selected works from Petra Lilja are the Medusa Blanket (co-designed by Vik Prjonsdottir) and two mirrors from the new series Primary Form.
HEMMA HOS writes about my work and studio.
Interior design article on designer Petra Lilja’s home/design studio/gallery space in southern Sweden in Swedish ELLE Decoration, Septemer issue 2014.
Swedish designer Petra Lilja in Italian ELLE Decor Malmö article in the September issue 2014.
August 28th 2014 the Swedish paper Metro Bostad featured an article on designer Petra Lilja and her home/studio/gallery in Malmö.
Petra Lilja will be lecturing on sustainable fashionand showing examples from the exhibition The Future is Handmade which she has curated. This is part of the programme at the Malmö Festival.
Cut from the program:
Petra Lilja is an industrial designer with a studio in Malmö where she also runs a design gallery. She works as a freelance designer and curator, most recently with the acclaimed design exhibition The Future is Handmade, showing among other works, sustainable fashion.
Petra Lilja’s interest in sustainability issues has been present throughout her life and design career. She co-fuded the design and innovation studio Apokalypse Labotek, well-known for the “falafel soap” and parquet floor of recycled car tires. Currently Petra Lilja is launching a furniture and a jewelry collection whose concepts raises issues of sustainable production and consumption.
“Someone else will always pay the price for the low prices we see in stores. At worst, with their health and their lives, somewhere else on the planet.“/ Petra Lilja
Thursday, August 21st:
11:30 Gathering on the first floor inside Form / Design Center, Malmö.
11: 45-12: 15Lecture
12: 15-12: 25 Q & A
Petra Lilja is launching the first prototypes of her furniture series WORKSHOP at Design Trade 2014. The series consists of work table, stool and room dividers.
At Design Trade, Petra Lilja will use the furniture design for exhibiting jewelry and mirrors, decor painted in marble and a new fantasy stone – Malmö Marble. Live painting performance every day at 2 pm. Stand B2:002, Bella Center.
In part two of Petra Lilja’s ongoing Medusa Design Projects, she leaves the naturalistic decor painting behind and creates her own patterns or ”stones”. Exploring the aspects of time and meditation, she works with water based paint and fast brush strokes in order to speed up the process without loosing it’s meditative effects.
In the beginning of of the project, Petra Lilja taught herself to decor paint naturalistic marble and other types of stones in order to master the craft. Working with one’s hands is very meditative and enjoyable and the results of using linseed oil paint turned out very satisfactory. Now, ready for part two of the project, Petra Lilja is exploring the aspects of time and meditation, she works with water based paint and fast brush strokes in order to speed up the process without loosing it’s meditative effects. She finds inspiration from decor painted objects and interiors from the peasant times in Sweden, where the local painters often developed their painting technique making it more simplistic and abstract.
My combined home/design studio and gallery. Unfortunately no images from the gallery – you have to visit it!
I am honored to be part of the jury for Ung Svensk Form 2014/15 along with Bea Szenfeld, Gert Wingårdh, Jesper Waldersten, Marcus Engman, Salka Hallström Bornold, Samir Alj Fält and Åsa Jungnelius!
Ung Svensk Form is an arena for young design. The project was created with the aim of increasing the knowledge and widening the scope of new, innovative Swedish design; helping it reach new audiences. The exhibition offers designers a possibility to meet the audience and manufacturers, a chance to initiate dialogue and establish new contacts. The project was initiated by Svensk Form and Form/Design Center in 1998 and is arranged for the ninth time. Designer Petra Lilja was also in the jury 2011.
The previous exhibitions created quite a stir both in Sweden and internationally, many of the past exhibitors are well established within their respective fields today. The exhibition is open to young designers working in Sweden and Swedish designers residing and working outside of Sweden. Designers can apply up till the age of thirty-five. Older applicants may also apply if they are studying at the time of application. Deadline September 15, 2014.
For more info please visit: ungsvenskform.se
Petra Lilja’s Medusa Mirror has been selected and is on display at Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen, Denmark) between January 23rd to March 1st 2015. A total of 570 artists submitted works for The Spring Exhibition. Of these, 73 were invited to show a total of 115 works.
The Spring Exhibition is an open, juried exhibition that has been an annual recurring event at Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s programme for 158 years. The Spring Exhibition is organized by the private institution Charlottenborg Fonden.
The Spring Exhibition 2015 presents artists from throughout the world. Many are from Denmark and Northern Europe, but artists from countries like Australia, Brazil and USA are behind some of the exhibited works from the fields of visual art, architecture and design.
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
I’m back in Iceland! For this year’s Design March I exhibit brand new work from my ongoing Medusa Design Projects, (see recent blog post). Glasses, jewllery, glass jars and a wool blanket in collaboration with Icelandic design cooperation Vik Prjonsdottir.
Opening: Thursday March 27th at 20:00 at Hannesarholt, Reykjavik.
My methods consists of deconstruction, remixing new and recycled materials and décor painting. The Medusa Blanket prototype is made in Sweden and is breaking new ground for all of us designers by using new techniques.
During the opening of the exhibition Medusa Design Projects I will also do a painting performance. The Medusa logotype and poster are designed by Lisa Orvang and Helena Hajdu-Rafis, who also made the animation projected in the exhibition space.
Cut from the press release:
Mythology works as an inspiration and starting point for Swedish designer Petra Lilja’s Medusa Design Projects exhibited during Design March. Along with her own designs, the exhibition will show a brand new textile design in collaboration with Vik Prjónsdóttir.
Petra Lilja puts focus on craft and sustainability in her work. As a trained industrial designer she goes from computer based drawing to physical production and research in sustainability, bridging the handicrafted and the local, small scale industrial production.
Finally time to release the news of a major event in design-Sweden next year! The exhibition The Future is Handmade that I’m curatating opens on February 12, 2014 at Kalmar Art Museum.
Today, craft is one of the most important driving forces in the design world, and many of the most prominent young designers refer in different ways to traditional craft. The exhibition will show examples from the 70’s up until today from international as well as Swedish designers.
The exhibition is in collaboration with the Designarkivet and will tour further during the year.
Read more about this project here!
