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Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week

Circular design to be showcased at Norwegian Presence in Milan

Furniture, lamps and jewellery by designers from Norway, which demonstrate sustainable design and the circular economy, will be displayed at an exhibition called Join at this year's Milan design week

Join is this year's offering from Norwegian Presence at Milan design week, which runs from 9 to 14 April. It will showcase the work of 21 designers, alongside seven of the country's leading manufacturers, in three connected rooms in what was previously a garage.

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Tron Meyer Stine Aas
Norwegian Presence's Join exhibition will present work of 21 designers and craft makers from Norway, including Stine Aas' Alter light

Curated by Jannicke Kråkvik and Alessandro D'Orazio who together make up design studio Kråkvik&D'Orazio, the work on show aims to highlight the economic and social dimensions of circular design.

"Why should we design a new thing? In addition to aesthetics, the object must have a value in terms of materiality or durability," said Kråkvik.

"The items we have chosen must give something in return – through longevity, decomposability or the way in which they are produced."

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Henrik Ødegaard's Slurp bench
Henrik Ødegaard's Slurp bench is made from pine and then lacquered

Items on show will include tables, glass vases, chairs, and storage units as well as jewellery made from reindeer bone and jagged clay pieces embedded with twigs, bark, sand and plants.

"The exhibited objects highlight how the boundaries between craft and design aren't as clear as before. Designers no longer design solely for mass production," continued Kråkvik.

Once the pieces were selected, each maker worked with the curatorial team to find further ways to maximise its sustainable qualities.

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Tron Meyer's Cyclop series
Tron Meyer's Cyclop series is a set of tables aluminium, larvikite and Norwegian Dinesen Douglas

Oslo-based designers Kristine Bjaadal and Hallgeir Homstvedt conceived the exhibition design. It is constructed entirely from recyclable and reusable materials, allowing it to be dismantled and repurposed once the design week ends.

"We noticed that a lot of the products chosen for the exhibition were conceived around a circular shape. With the title Join and the exhibition's focus on collaboration and sustainability, the circle seemed the natural symbol to use," said Bjaadal.

"The shape will appear in many different ways – as details in mobile walls and modules, for example, and in Volver's circular rugs."

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Meyer's Half Moon table Kent Fonn Skare's granite Universell sculpture Martin Høgh Olsen's Local table
Meyer's Half Moon table will appear with Kent Fonn Skare's granite Universell sculpture and Martin Høgh Olsen's Local table

Other exhibitors include Tron Meyer, who will show Varde, a sculpture of stacked hemispherical forms. The flat surface of each split stone exposes a core of 290 million-year old volcanic rock.

Meyer will also show Half Moon Table and Cyclop, a furniture series in anodised aluminium, larvikite and Norwegian Dinesin Douglas wood.

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Máret Ánne Sara and Matt Lambert
Máret Ánne Sara and Matt Lambert will show jewellery made from reindeer skulls

Kim Thomé's Tango recyclable tables can easily be disassembled and repaired, while Bergen studio KnudsenBergHindenes's Hive storage unit is not only recyclable but also made from recycled materials.

Scraps and offcuts from granite slabs find their way into Kent Fonn Skare's Universell furniture.

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Mijo Studio
Works, including Mijo Studio's abstract interpretation of a chair will be shown in three connecting rooms of what was previously a garage

Arkitektur, Etterklang and Struktur av Minner is a series of glazed objects in porcelain and stoneware. They "are objects studying cyclic processes of change, such as growth, transformation and decay," said their maker, Anita Hanch-Hansen.

Her work combines clay with natural materials such as twigs and sand, which emit colour and leave sculptural traces on the finished objects.

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Anita Hanch-Hansen
Anita Hanch-Hansen will show objects made from clay studded with natural materials including sand and bark

Other designers featured are Erik Wester, Henrik Ødegaard, Kaja Solgaard Dahl, Kim Thomé, Marte Frøystad, Martin Høgh Olsen, Mijo Studio, Noidoi, Stine Aas, Vera & Kyte, and Máret Ánne Sara & Matt Lambert.

The exhibition is organised by DOGA (Design and Architecture Norway), Klubben, an initiative founded by three Norwegian designers in 2011, and Norwegian Crafts, who together have presented the exhibition during Milan design week for the last five years.

Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week Tron Meyer's Varde
Meyer's Varde is a towering stack of split volcanic stones

Last year's edition of the exhibition focused on the idea of collaboration and how this quality which the Norwegians call "fellesskap" was integral to building a modern Norway.

Join by Norwegian Presence will be at via Savona 35, Milan from 9 to 14 April 2019.

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Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week
Norwegian Presence Join exhibition Milan Design Week