MINDCRAFT: Danish designers give shape to time in Milan

Time serves as the overarching theme when MINDCRAFT, the Danish Arts Foundation’s annual flagship exhibition for Danish craft and design, is presented at the world’s leading design event, FuoriSalone, in Milan.

The inspiration for this year’s MINDCRAFT exhibition theme, TIME, according to curator and designer Henrik Vibskov, sprang directly from the historic setting for the exhibition, the San Simpliciano cloister, where time plays a central role in structuring the flow and rhythm of life. Time thus also formed a key focus for the 18 makers and designers selected to take part in MINDCRAFT17, who were asked to address and interpret a specific time span or time of day in their contributions, which are all created especially for the exhibition.

Under this general theme, the participants explore how time can help explain what makes us tick, for example with regard to the rhythms and rituals of life, but also how time affects the creative process – from the drying time of a ceramic glaze to considerations about when or for how long an object will be used.

In their exploration of time, the pieces position themselves within the span between the conventionally functional and purposeful and the processual and artistic with a more sculptural and poetic presence – from graphic design, ceramics and furniture to fashion, glass, textile and silver.

Since 2008, the MINDCRAFT exhibitions have annually presented brand-new works by some of Denmark’s best designers and craft makers during the Milan design week. This year’s event thus marks the tenth time that the Danish Arts Foundation introduces the international design scene to some of Denmark’s leading craft and design talents.

(photo credit: MINDCRAFT/Jeppegudmondsen.com)

This year’s participants are Tobias Møhl, Yuki Ferdinandsen, Eske Rex & Maria Mengel, Birk Marcus Hansen, Emil Krøyer & Mads Sætter-Lassen, Anne Dorthe Vester & Maria Bruun, Kasper Kjeldgaard, Lærke Valum, Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen, Isabel Berglund, Hanne G, Anders Ruhwald, Christina Schou Christensen, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen and Carl Emil Jacobsen.

See the new pieces and read more about the designers at www.mindcraftexhibition.com

MindTalk with participants from MINDCRAFT, moderated by Henriette Noermark: Wednesday, 5 April at 17.00-18.00

MINDCRAFT17 Chiostro Minore di San Simpliciano, Piazza Paolo VI 6

4–9 April 2017

Tuesday 11.00–23.00

Wednesday–Saturday 11.00–21.00

Sunday 11.00–17.00