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Design Studio Curating has been a great interest of Petra Lilja since 2006 when she curated her first design exhibition, displaying interesting to peculiar objects designed for specific purposes for e.g. the agriculture industry, far away from flashy design magazines. Between 2013-16 she ran an eponymous design gallery from a converted car repair shop, also her home, in Malmö. Please visit the archive for the exhibitions of international art and design exhibitions.

The Future is Handmade

The exhibition “ The Future is Handmade “, curated by Petra Lilja, shows 46 design objects that in some way relates to craft or the handmade process. Examples from the 70’s when radical designers such as Erik Höglund was inspired by folk craft when he designed furniture, to the 90’s when a number of young designers seriously started experimenting, such as Droog Design, M/M Paris and Sandra Backlund. 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. Like for example, Hilda Hellström, Kiki Van Eyck, Anders Lagombra Jacobsen, Tobias Alm, and others.

The Future is Handmade was made for and in collaboration with Kalmar Konstmuseum and then toured to Form/Desig Center in Malmö and Falkenbergs Museum, Sweden in 2014-15. In addition to curating, Petra Lilja also made the exhibition design and arranged an open seminar on the theme. International design professionalstook part in a panel discussion moderated by art and design critic Dennis Dahlqvist. International guests: Rianne Makkink of Studio Makkink&Bey, Holland. Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno, Zaven, Italy. Tomek Rygalik, product and furniture designer, Poland. Kasia Jezowska, curator, Young Creative Poland/UK. Hanne Lange Houlberg, Fine Crafts Professional and photographer, chairman of Danish Arts and Crafts Association, board member of World Crafts Council Europe, Denmark. Jerszy Seymour, designer, Canada/Germany. This exhibition was designed and curated by Petra Lilja, commissioned by the Embassies of Sweden and Finland in Bucharest and displayed during the Romanian Design Week, an annual event in Bucharest that promotes design and architecture. The idea behind the exhibition design was a smorgasbord of objects representing emerging tendencies in Scandinavian design. The large table was designed as an easy-to-assemble flat pack podium where upon the objects where elevated and placed on reflective mirror glass. Skilled carpenters manufactured the design in Bucharest. The idea behind a free-standing podium was to optimize long distance collaboration where important information like exact location and facilities could be subject for change and the designer not being able to visit the venue prior to the opening. Please read more about the exhibition under Curating.