Adorno
CHART | ART FAIR 2018

NOW NORDIC
Adorno presents five new design collections of design art from
Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway
Launching at CHART DESIGN, Copenhagen
31 August to 2 September 2018
For many people, ‘Nordic’ has become a shorthand term for unadorned simplicity, clean functionality and
natural materials – but does the label still hold true? This August, international design platform Adorno
presents a landmark exhibition of contemporary design from the five Nordic countries, aiming to
showcase the commonalities and contrasts between the modern design cultures of Norway, Finland,
Sweden, Denmark and Iceland.
Developed in collaboration with a team of curators drawn from each of the participating countries, Now
Nordic will present collectible pieces from emerging and established designers working at the
intersection of art, design and craft. Encompassing both digital and physical exhibitions, the project aims
to introduce international audiences to the variety, scope and ambition of Nordic design today – and to
explore whether the characteristics that have historically defined it are still evident in our increasingly
globalised creative culture.
“Growing up in Denmark we’ve always been aware of the strong historic traditions within Nordic design
and crafts, which sparked our initial interest in other design and crafts cultures around the world. Adorno
International Design Collaboration was created to allow these cultures to be explored and enjoyed by
design and crafts enthusiasts and collectors. With the project Now Nordic the aim is to present the
independent designers and craftsmen/women that are now part of defining the Nordic scene, which for
too long have been dominated by larger design brands.”
– Kristian Andersen & Martin Clausen, Adorno founders

The collection will launch in Adorno’s home town of Copenhagen at CHART DESIGN, the newly expanded,
design-focused complement to the CHART ART FAIR. Each of the country curators will select pieces from
5-7 designers from their region. The works will range from small objects to large-scale furniture pieces,
and span a wide range of disciplines and materials, but – as with every piece to feature on Adorno’s
platform – all will be crafted, functional art-objects of exceptional quality that are representative of the
culture that created them.

CURATORS
Like Adorno’s existing city collections, which comprise selected pieces chosen by locally embedded
curators and industry experts, the five countries comprising Now Nordic have each been assigned a
curator with extensive knowledge of the local design scenes.
• Denmark – Pil Bredahl
Curator of Adorno’s existing Copenhagen collection, Pil Bredahl is a designer and curator with interests
in experimentation design, sustainability and social responsibility. She is a co-founder of the design
group FairTradeDesigners.com, a board member of Design Denmark since 2011; a representative at
Designmuseum Danmark and a jury member for the Danish Design Award.
• Finland – Sebastian Jansson
Finnish industrial designer Sebastian Jansson is based in Helsinki, where he and his studio direct and
develop design of everyday objects for a variety of international clients, including the collaborationdriven
design brand Made By Choice, which Jansson co-founded in 2016. His work has been exhibited
worldwide, and earned him a number of awards.
• Iceland – Hlín Helga Guðlaugsdóttir & María Kristín Jónsdóttir
Hlin Helga is an independent curator, designer and design-thinking consultant who has spent a decade
involved in education and research at universities around the world. Her work focuses on facilitating,
initiating and leading dialogues and interdisciplinary collaborations for meaningful innovation through
design. She is a fellow of the digital futures think-tank W.I.R.E.

• María Kristín Jónsdóttir is the Editor-in-chief of HA – a magazine on Icelandic design and architecture
that provides a forum for critical discussion on the cultural landscape. Also a curator, creative director
and designer, María Kristín’s work has been exhibited around Europe.
• Sweden – Rebecca Ahlstedt
Based in Stockholm, spatial designer and curator Rebecca Ahlstedt creates public spaces, interior
architecture and exhibition design by combing physical tools and digital practices. Interested in the roles
art and design play in the social fabric of the everyday, she focuses on visual culture in public space and
the subject of identity, power dynamics, performativity and design as social material. In 2017 she joined
the international group Undeni, which is devoted to explorations and productions at the meeting point of
art, design, craft and technology.
• Norway – Kråkvik & D'Orazio
Founded by stylists and set designers Alessandro D'Orazio and Jannicke Kråkvik, Kråkvik & D’Orazio is an
Oslo-based creative studio working on interior styling, design and exhibitions with clients worldwide.
They also run the Oslo interior store Kollected By, where they showcase furniture and homeware design
from Norway and beyond.

‘In the past, Nordic design was easier to recognize than today. Very often you can identify its simplicity
and honesty in terms of both design and materials, but in recent years it has most definitely become
more playful and daring. We are all influenced by each other.’
– Alessandro D’Orazio, Kråkvik & D’Orazio, Now Nordic Norway curator

DESIGNERS

Copenhagen Collection
Nikolaj Steenfatt
Jonas Edvard
Gurli Elbækgaard
Astrid Tolnov
Alexandru Murar
Tina Austen Petersen
Netter Andresen

Helsinki Collection
Aalto+Aalto
Elina Ulvio
Maija Puoskari
Tero Kuitunen
Hanna Anon
Habitare
Studio Finna

Oslo Collection
Pettersen & Hein
Eyvind Solli
Marianne Andersen and Victoria Guzzler
Runa Klock
Cosmin Cioroiu and Katherine Lønstad
Kim Thome
Vera Kleppe and Äshild Kyte

Stockholm Collection
Lotta Lampa
Sara Lundkvist
Elsa Chartin
Lith Lith Lundin
Rebecca Larsdotter Jonsson
Fredrik Färg and Emma Maria Blanche
Petra Lilja

Reykjavik Collection
Tinna Gunnarsdóttir
Magnús Ingvar Ágústsson
Hugdetta with 1+1+1
Ragna Ragnarsdóttir
Brynjar Sigurdarson
Katrín Ólína
Studio Hanna Whitehead
Gardar Eyjolfsson

EXHIBITIONS
Taking place at the CHART DESIGN venue, the Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen, from
31 August to 2 September, the physical exhibition will be complemented by a digital exhibition at
adorno.design, enabling a larger global audience to explore and purchase the exhibited works. The
digital exhibition will be present a wider selection of designers and pieces for each country, and be
enriched with films, images, editorial and interactive content exploring the processes and ideas behind
each designer’s work and the contemporary design culture in their region.
TALK
The CHART DESIGN exhibition will also be accompanied by a panel talk on 01 September in which leading
curators and design thinkers from each of the five countries will discuss the changing shape of Nordic
design, explore the factors that determine the distinctive creative cultures of their countries, and
consider the future of national or regional craft cultures in an increasingly globalised world. Responding
to the individual collections and pieces shown at Now Nordic, the panel will put the ‘Nordic design’ label
under the microscope, examining whether the individual collections and pieces do indeed share
common characteristics, and if so, considering what sustains and develops these shared traits – and
whether they will survive into the future.

About Adorno
Adorno was set up in 2017 by Copenhagen-based design lovers and tech entrepreneurs Kristian Snorre
Andersen and Martin Clausen in order to give designers around the world a unique opportunity to present
their work to the global market, and to provide design enthusiasts with a chance to discover and acquire
unique and limited-edition work. By establishing a network of expert curators in key design destinations
around the world, Adorno has been able to not only maintain rigorously controlled quality, but also to
provide its community with a unique insight into the distinctive and evolving design cultures around the
world.
In addition to the new Now Nordic collection, 12 design communities are represented in Adorno’s
galleries: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Istanbul, London, Mexico City,
Madrid, Milan and São Paolo. Adorno plans to expand its collection to 17 cities by the end of 2018,
encompassing Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
www.adorno.design