In my latest blog I wrote about our visit to A. Petersen and mostly about their own production. This time it’s about the exhibition Japan Retur. In tandem with the furniture production and exhibition of their own AP Series and curated Danish Arts and Crafts A. Petersen organize changing exhibitions focusing on design, craftsmanship, arts and crafts, and architecture.
The Japan Retur exhibition presents 43 projects within arts and crafts and design, focusing on collaboration and inspiration between Denmark and Japan. The background was that in 2017, Denmark and Japan celebrated the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
This included an exhibition in Kanazawa, Japan showing Danish and Japanese design, and the Japan Retur exhibition. Both exhibitions are presented in collaboration with the Danish Arts Foundation, which has also supported all the projects in the exhibition, including a number of exchange projects for designers with the desire to exchange knowledge and collaborate with Japanese professionals. The exhibition is accompanied by a program with guided tours, design talks, lectures and workshops.
I have to say right away that all 43 participants in the exhibition were from the top shelf but in the following I will present just a few of the designers who impressed me the most.
Especially Tora Urup and her glass cylinders and floating bowls with colored underlay were fantastic.
I must admit I have never heard of Tora Urup before as we primarily are interested in vintage glass. However, as I found out, Tora Urup is considered as one of the most significant contemporary Scandinavian glass artists. She started her career working with ceramic art in Tokoname, Japan in 1982-83, after which she studied glass and ceramics at the School of Applied Arts in Denmark. In 1994, Tora Urup graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and subsequently returned to Denmark to collaborate with Holmegaard Glassworks and Royal Copenhagen porcelain. Since 2001, Tora Urup has been running her own design studio and produced her works in collaboration with highly skilled craftsmen in Europe and Japan.
Tora Urup’s art works are part of important museum collections such as The Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki Finland; the MUDAC, Lausanne; The Craft and Design Museum Reykjavik Iceland; Coburg Glass Museum, Germany; The Art Council, Copenhagen Denmark; Kunstforeningen af 14 August, Denmark; The Glass Museum, Ebeltoft Denmark, Design Museum Danmark. (Source Maria Wettergren Galerie)
The silversmith Yuki Ferdinandsen let her hammer dance on the surface of the silver objects using the Japanese ”Arare” technique, which means hail. The technique produces orderly rows of small bumps creating a wonderful sculptural effect on the surface of the silver.
Yuki Ferdinandsen was born in Japan and has lived in Denmark since 1988. She trained in both Japan and Denmark, and has been teaching at the Institute for Precious Metals in Copenhagen since 2005.
In 2012 Yuki Ferdinandsen was named the silversmith of the year and was awarded the Karl Gustav Hansen Prize at Koldinghus with the following motivation: ”It is exciting to see the intersection of Japanese and Danish crafts traditions. The way Yuki shapes the surfaces of the hollowware silver with painstakingly chased bumps in intricate patterns is something we have never seen in Denmark before. Her works add a new dimension to Danish silver.”
She has worked at Georg Jensen and today has her own workshop in Copenhagen.
In the mixed zone of design, art and architecture Ane Lykke integrates light and grid in a three-dimensional Kumiko grid. Kumiko is a traditional Japanese technique, made of many wooden bars crossed and laid to form various patterns. The Light Object is very expressive and creates a warm, very elegant ambience.
Line Depping and Jakob Jørgensen show wooden bowls produced in collaboration with master woodturner Takehito Nakajami.
This is only a very modest selection of what can be seen at this impressive exhibition before it closes February 28. I strongly advice you to go and see it.
Globus Antik 