THE W IDE WORLD OF CR AFT
N
S
Explore Stockholm!
Visit americancraftmag.
org for even more infor-
mation and photos.
Click on our Wide
World of Craft interac-
tive map and find recom-
mended places to visit,
shop, eat and play!
Crafted Form
in Stoékholm
S T O R Y B Y
Sabrina Gschwandtner
In English we use the word “craft” as a verb
and a noun, referring to myriad ways of
malting and many different types of objects.
In Swedish, there is no such all-encompass-
ing term. There is
konsthantverk,
which
means craft that aspires to be like art, and
there is
hantverk,
which refers to hobby
handicraft. The act of crafting is called
hant-
verka
and not
konsthantverka.
Whatever the words used, over the last
decade a rich dialogue about craft’s changing
goals, aesthetics and values has been incited
by a visionary group of Stockholm residents.
In 2007 a new name for their focal point
emerged: formhantverk,
or crafted form. As
Zandra Ahl, known to be the enfant terrible
of the Stockholm craft scene, and her col-
laborator, ceramist Paivi Emkvist, wrote
in the foreword to their book
Crafted Form
(craftedform.se), they coined the term to
refer to “activities that are on the borders
of and in dialogue with crafts and design,
[with an] emphasis on communication and
discussion of issues.”
In Stockholm there are many vibrant
spaces to experienc
a formhantverk,
most of
them run by makers themselves. Founded
in 1998, Galleri IngerMolin opened its doors
right when Stockholm’s new craft move-
ment gained momentum. “I show what I
believe to be the strongest, most distinctive,
or most moving elements in contemporary
crafts,” dealer Inger Molin declares on her
website. She was one of the first to recog-
nize Ahl, who was then a highly provoca-
tive student at Stockholm’s Konstfack Uni-
versity' College of Arts, Crafts and Design,
by including her in the gallery’s inaugural
STA R S exhibition. Launched in 1998 and
continuing on an irregularly programmed
basis, STARS highlights the best emerging
work in the city. Over the years Molin has
spotlighted locals such as Per B. Sundberg,
a glass and ceramic artist who worked for
more than a decade as an Orrefors designer,
and Maria Boij, a ceramist and member
of the dynamic craft collective WeWork-
InAFragileMaterial (W W IA FM ). While
Molin has a slight focus on ceramics, HAkan
Lindgren’s contribution to STARS 2009 in-
cluded a tiny hole in a wall that visitors were
invited to feel with their fingers, and Maxit
Runsten’s alluring 2009 solo debut consisted
of sewn, stuffed textile sculptures.
At Crystal Palace the focus is explicitly
generational, not material. The gallei'y,
founded in 2007 by Katarina Sjogren and
Jun-Hi Wennergi'en Nordling, represents
young makers such as Ahl, now a ceramic
and glass professor at Konstfack; Leif>
092 american craft
feb/m ario
www.journal-plaza.net & www.freedowns.net
Photos courtesy of Galleri IngerMolin.
